There Is No Right Or Wrong Reading

People Know That Pain Is Part Of Our Nature, That It Cannot Be Avoided And That It Should Not Be Avoided. But Capitalism In This Country Is Focused On The Idea 1) That Life Can And Should Be Absolutely Beautiful; 2) That Beauty Can Be Defined According To An Ironclad Objective Standard; 3) That Beauty Can Be Held Onto Forever If Only You Do The Right Things Perfectly Enough; And 4) That It Can Be Purchased.

But That Incessant Drive To Be Out There In The Literary Universe That Was Important To Me When I Was In My Twenties, Like Going To A Paris Review Party Or Whatever, That Seems Totally Irrelevant Now.

I Turned Forty, And Im Finally Going To Get Married And Maybe Have A Kid.

I Think People On Antidepressants Often Lose Sexual Feelings. I Don't Mean That I Think Sex Is Only About Sadness; It Is Obviously About Joy And Vitality And Birth As Well.

Have I Mentioned That I Expect Death Around Every Turn, That Every Blue Sky Has A Safe Sailing Out Of It, That Every Bus Runs Me Over, That Every Low, Mean Syllable Uttered In My Direction Seems To Intimate The Violence Of Murder, That Every Family Seems Like An Opportunity For Ruin And Every Marriage A Ceremony Into Which Calamity Will Fall And Hearts Will Be Broken And Lives Destroyed And People Branded By The Mortifications Of Love?