“Papaya.” Waterfalls. Flowers. Clear blue seas. Lush islands where it was always 80, and no one got sick. Where women were beautiful, gentle, obliging.

A balloon drifting in a pool,
swivelling when the wind changes…

There are numbers high on a building
telling the time, 12:27,
the temperature, 36.

They didn’t acknowledge my presence — they just stared.

Trees, rocks, the animal and human kingdom
Are all passengers of my will. I treat them
As they treat me, loving the way I go on and on

You have evil in this world as you have anything else.
I remember the first time I noticed someone was crazy.
It wasn’t interesting, really; I only wanted to leave

When the czar arrives the audience is still, as though he still had the power to become flesh. This is a silent film, so when the czar speaks a card covers the screen. It says, “I decree the death of one hundred, no, two hundred workers.” The workers put their hands in front of their faces; this is the film-maker's image of fear, his idea of a dog with his tail between his legs, of the hiss of the cat.

What is so strange about Desnos is that he says he is not afraid of going crazy, of dying, or even of the Nazis who are always watching him.

All night you talked about your work, how the market would go up and up, how there was nothing to lose no matter how great the risk. The women loved you for that. A strong wind blew in from the bay, but it did not so much as ruffle your hair. The wheels of the Chrysler spun freely in a ditch.

The sun is very hot. Why is it no one complains of the heat in France?