Those who have witnessed executions say there is no sound worse than the weeping of mother watching her son being put to death. They’re wrong. There is one sound that is worse. There is silence.

Words are like people, I think. Put too many of them too close together and they cause trouble.

I got words in me, Jess, fighting to find a way out. Sometimes there’s so many words and they get so crowded in my skull I think my head is gonna explode. I want to...