That's what poems are for, unlivable love.

- Tess Gallagher

the past is not only that which happened but also that which could have happened but did not.

- Tess Gallagher

When I was a young girl salmon fishing with my father in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in Washington State I used to lean out over the water and try to…

- Tess Gallagher

When you hug someone you want it to be a masterpiece of connection, the way the button on his coat will leave the imprint of a planet in my cheek whe…

- Tess Gallagher

I stop writing the poem to fold the clothes. No matter who lives or who dies, I'm still a woman. I'll always have plenty to do. I bring the arms of h…

- Tess Gallagher

It is a burden, I'm saying, to live where I live.

- Tess Gallagher