[to Be An Artist,] This Desire To

The Patience Of Poverty. In Rice Fields, Backs Bent Forever. Amazing, Man Outoxens The Oxen And Still Smiles. The Mystery Of India, Say Indologists.

Whenever There Has Been Talk Of Exterminating Rats, Others, Who Were Not Rats, Have Been Exterminated.

Cemeteries Have Always Had A Lure For Me. They Are Well Kept, Free From Ambiguity, Logical, Virile, And Alive. In Cemeteries You Can Summon Up Courage And Arrive At Decisions, In Cemeteries Life Takes On Distinct Contours -- I Am Not Referring To The Borders Of The Graves -- And If You Will, A Meaning.

I Wept When The Muse Ulla Bent Over Me. Blinded By Tears I Could Not Prevent Her From Kissing Me, I Could Not Prevent The Muse From Giving Me That Terrible Kiss. All Of You Who Have Ever Been Kissed By The Muse Will Surely Understand That Oskar, Once Branded By That Kiss, Was Condemned To Take Back The Drum He Had Rejected Years Before, The Drum He Had Buried In The Sand Of Sapse Cemetery.

If I Were Asked To Think Up A New Name For Temptation, I Should Recommend The Word 'doorknob', Because What Are These Protuberances Put On Doors For If Not To Tempt Us.