Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Mrs. Dumpty -- I -- Hosanna -- Please Hold -- Act One -- Annunciation -- Happy Families are All Alike -- Self-Portrait at Eleven Thirty P.M. -- Tired Sex -- Surprise Party -- The Conservation of Energy -- High Summer -- The Comforters -- Relic -- Twenty-Fourth Anniversary -- Marcel's at 11:00 -- Trompe l'Oeil -- Rehearsal -- Coasting -- II -- Esperanto -- III -- How the Last Act Begins -- Don't Tell the Children -- Crescendo -- Crazed -- The Equilibrists -- Compost -- What It Takes -- Archipelago of Dreams -- Puzzle Pieces -- Mother Hunger -- Fooling the Enemy -- Straw Basket -- Here -- In the Ward -- ECT -- Visiting Hours are Over -- IV -- The Collector -- Waking at Four -- The Rule of Grammar -- Clear and Cold -- The End of Safety -- Though You Haven't Asked -- Before -- A High Wind -- The Kiss.