PALIMPSEST - by Catherynne M. Valente

 

PALIMPSEST by   Catherynne M. Valente Living alone,' November whispered, 'is a skill, like  running long distance or programming old computers.  You have to know parameters, protocols. You have to  learn them so well that they become like a language: to have music always so that the silence doesn't  overwhelm you, to perform your work exquisitely  well so that your time is filled.  You have to allow yourself to open up until  you are the exact size of the place you live, no more or  else you get restless. No less, or else you drown. There  are rules; there are ways of being and not being.