old fashioned
“I’m old fashioned
I love the moonlight
I love the old fashioned things”
—I’m Old Fashioned, music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, 1942. Chet Baker’s version springs immediately to mind, does it not?
bricks. Bricks. And more bricks
“My Baltimore childhood was made out of bricks. Bricks. And more bricks. . . . Brick sunsets, brick picnics, brick newspapers delivered on frosty brick mornings. Everything the color of bacon and dried blood: brick.”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
an iridescent ring
“When death finally sucks her down the drain, as it must suck everyone, Amanda will leave an iridescent ring around the tub.”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
Little Boxes
“There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.”
—from Little Boxes, words and music by Malvina Reynolds, 1962.
October days
“It was one of those mellow October days that seem concocted from a mixture of sage, polished brass and peach brandy.”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
a brain
“The afternoon sky looked like a brain. Moist. Gray. Convoluted. A mad-scientist breeze probed at the brain, causing it to bob and quiver as if it were immersed in a tank of strange liquids.”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
Moonwatching
“Most of the troupers were rolling their own ecstasy now. Dancing. Singing. Climbing trees. Moonwatching (it was mango orange and as thin as a tortilla).”
–Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
turn immediately to the end of the book
“For those of you who may have come to these pages in the course of a scholastic assignment and are impatient for information to relay to your professor (who, unless he is a total dolt, has it simmering in his brainpan already), the author suggests that you turn immediately to the end of the book and roust out those facts which seem necessary to your cause. Of course, should you do so, you will grow up half-educated and will likely suffer spiritual and sexual deprivations. But it is your decision.”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
style
“‘The most important thing in life is style. That is, the style of one’s existence—the characteristic mode of one’s actions—is basically, ultimately what matters. For if man defines himself by doing, then style is doubly definitive because style describes the doing.’”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.
the language of the Dream Wheel
“‘We breakfast at the All-Night Sanskrit Clinic and Sunshine Post. Phosphorescent toadstools illuminate the musicians. Ghost cookies sparkle with opium. We learn the language of the Dream Wheel.’”
—Tom Robbins, from Another Roadside Attraction, 1971.