The Night Watch

The ocean is anxiety producing because of rip tides just as sex is anxiety producing for those who are concerned about performance. The Coney Island Cyclone should advertise adrenaline. Skydiving attracts those seeking Adrenalin highs though Adrenalin ironically is the substance that causes impotence. In fact a treatment for a priapism is a shot of adrenaline. Cheap thrills contrast to the kind of enduring pleasure that may derive from a memory of "The Night Watch" or even Courbet's "The Origin of the World" which walks a fine line between stimulation and the kind of illumination, resulting from supernovae that produce an explosive burst of light before they explode and die.

read "Died Young" by Francis Levy, The Brooklyn Rail

and listen to "Can I Get a Witness" by Marvin Gaye