If there really had been a Mercutio, and if there really were a Paradise, Mercutio might be hanging out with teenage Vietnam draftee casualties now, talking about what it felt like to die for other people's vanity and foolishness.

As the new Adam, it might be said, his final act was to cast the Apple of Knowledge into the deep blue sea.

The statue was of a nude woman playing a slide trombone. It was entitles, enigmatically, Evelyn and Her Magic Violin.

The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow.

When we passed a Catholic church, I recalled, he said, 'You think your dad's a good chemist? They're turning soda crackers into meat in there. Can your dad do that?

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward.