A crowd of drunken lovers. Newspaper hats, new couples falling from couches and love-seats—the pleasure remembered, never the regret.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

A friend comes over with a Ouija board. It spells out: Bourbon. Where’s the band? Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

And everyone wants to read the poem we’re afraid to write.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

As I go under, I wonder if there’s a reason for art?

— Kelli Russell Agodon

For everyone who never smiled in school photos, for all who’ve wandered city street snot knowing the where they were or feeling alone, I’ve packed kindness.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

I can’t relate to your razzle-dazzle, your wish for voluptuous when my symphony is span.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

I don’t believe we should carry backup plans in life’s suitcase—they’re too easy to unpack like living a life in yoga pants, so comfortable our hips spread into new timezones...

— Kelli Russell Agodon

I escape disaster by writing a poem with a joke in it:The past, present, and future walk into a bar—it was tense.

— Kelli Russell Agodon

In the corner of the painting of success the signature is blurred

— Kelli Russell Agodon

I place solitude in a frame on my desk and call it, the one I love.

— Kelli Russell Agodon