Quotations from “City Boy”
Leonard Michaels
1933-2003 American

The words “thank you” sat in my brain like driven spikes.
—Leonard Michaels, “City Boy”

I discovered I was angry. Until she said that I had no idea I was angry. I flicked the cigarette into the gutter and suddenly I knew why. I didn’t love her.
—Leonard Michaels, “City Boy”

Love is infinite and one. Women are not. Neither are men.
—Leonard Michaels, “City Boy”

“Not say anything. Like moral imbeciles go slurp coffee and not say anything? What are we, nihilists or something? Assassins? Monsters?”
—Leonard Michaels, “City Boy”

Her eyes looked at mine. At them as if they were as flat and opaque as hers.... She continued looking at my eyes. I shrugged, looked down. She took my shirt front in a fist like a bite. She whispered. I said, “What?” She whispered again, “Fuck me.” The clock ticked like crickets. The Vlamincks spilled blood. We sank into the rug as if it were quicksand.
—Leonard Michaels, “City Boy”