I remember taking Kina to the doctor and listing off all the words she knew how to say, and being proud, at the time, that she was in command of twenty words. Now her vocabulary is so vast and strange that she can pair them all off by how they sound and make me laugh. “Tommy Salami” is a real beauty, and significantly more inventive than whatever I might have come up with, whether at four or forty. Liberal arts poetry degree, here we come! Bring on the book advances—Daddy needs a new house!

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