Counter to the avalanche of messages from our culture, I recognize celibacy not as negation but as a joyous turning inward. Inebriate of air am I, / And debauchee of dew, wrote Emily Dickinson, most promiscuous of celibates. Opulence in asceticism, Marianne Moore wrote, a phrase that celebrates the solitary life even as it provides a sound bite for saving the planet.

"Going it alone" (2015)