“Poland was a rainy place with a lot of crows, man, and it was beautiful.”

Please take a few minutes to complete this brief survey:

_ maudlin
_ vaguely amusing
_ pointless
_ cringe-inducing
_ naive
_ pretentious
_ absent any discernible qualities
_ tedious
_ beinahe nichts

He was in a dark place. Actually, a black hole.

The usual memoir stuff; a child’s fascination with sound; playing a toy instrument; under the aspect of eternity; etc.

Things you thought were important turned out not to be important.
Things you thought were not important turned out to be important.

On our last Thanksgiving together my Grandfather Ezra, in his plain dark woolen coat, raised his hand and sanctimoniously asked my father to say grace. After an uncomfortably long silence I opened my eyes to see my parents tightly gripping each other’s hands as tears streamed down Dad’s face.

By Christmas Dad had retreated to the darkened guest room. I didn’t see him for eighteen months. When he finally emerged, he was bearded and gaunt, but seemed at peace. Or defeated. He was 48 years old, and looked 70. My mother had taken a job in a doctor’s office by then. After I went off to college they moved into a small apartment.

Far too finely wrought to be good.

The things you joke about during the day can fill you with horror in the middle of the night.

What would you do if you could go back in time?
Probably die of embarrassment.

The symbol of the cross, which refers to the indivisible nature of the spirit and the incarnate existence it is nailed to.

When you have gone through all the layers of the self, its inmost nature, its essence, is nothing. You are nothing.
K., Public Talk 5, Madras (Chennai), 7 January 1978
He stood at the back window he had photographed a thousand times, without having really been there at all. Somehow, his fear had evaporated, and despite the knowledge that it might return at any time, he was grateful.

It’s difficult to reconcile the apparent stupidity of the individual Ramones with the conceptual audacity and intelligence of their collective practice.

Such beauty that the only suitable response would be to no longer exist.

If you were any good at this, someone would have noticed by now.