For me, the easiest way to tell that an author has transcended the gulf between good, serviceable writing (the sort found in most genre fiction, from Frederick Forsyth to Heinlein to Stephen King) and literature (from Parker’s early Spensers and John D. MacDonald’s McGee books at the very low end, to Joyce and Shakespeare at the very top) is when I catch myself reading a few words over and over again and thinking, “God, I wish I had written that!”
Brigid makes the spectacular turn of phrase look easy. Go read and be dazzled.
When I read things like that piece it makes me glad the Internet is forever, because I so dearly want my grandchildren to be able to read them too.
The woman is simply put, a wordsmith.