Along the baseboards in this old house, tiny Roman arches are entryways
where it would not be unreasonable to expect centurions to pass, bickering old
Jews in caftans to congregate, or young Jews to pull crosses. But only mice,
as big as elephants, appear, their worried expressions and nervous facial tics
proof enough that they are on a mission from God.

--Morton Marcus



"I'm Jewish," Marcus notes, "but I'm Russian-Jewish, and I've always identified with the Russian part of me, and I'm not American. This is really a WASP country, and so many people misunderstand me--misunderstand my intensity, misunderstand my emotionality. I am really Slavic in temperament, and I try to devour the world and the world could destroy me and I could weep with its wings and I could laugh with its wings and that was how I was going to face the world in my poetry."