"I'm trying to think: What is language, anyway, what is speech? Does it just float, like smoke from fire, away from the speaker, signifying rather than being the thing that caused it? Is speech, like smoke, a byproduct of some burning rather than the burning itself? It is that, isn't it, my speech is like smoke and my body is the burning, can't you see that, I'm sure you can see that, be gentle with this eternal flame as you extinguish it be mindful of its eternity, and bring it back dear gentleman dear older older gentleman who speaks to me and touches me like the Mediterranean sea."

Deb Margolin, “To Speak Is to Suffer” and Vice Versa, TDR 2008