“Oh," she said. "I wasn't going to ask, but then you never said anything about it, so I thought I'd ask.""How about you?""Not me," said Odette. She had a poem about marriage. It began, Marriage is the death you want to die, and in front of audiences she never read it with much conviction. Usually she swung her foot back and forth through the whole thing.”

American writer, critic, and essayist

Lorrie Moore is an American writer, critic, and essayist best known for her short stories. Since 1984, she has also taught creative writing. Her fiction has brought her major awards, and her work is widely associated with the short story form. Alongside her writing, she has maintained a long teaching career in creative writing, and her essays and criticism add to a body of work shaped by close attention to language and form.