from codeine diary [little, brown & co., 1998]

"Chance is myself," said Artaud. A troubling notion, and yet what could be more obvious? We know from physicists that chance is at work in the foundation of the atom. We know, too, of course, that we are constructed of atoms. But an abyss lies between our understanding of matter's mercurial hidden life and the affirmation that our lives are irradiated through and through by randomness.

--tom andrews [1961-2001]