Howie Good

The Anxiety Index

At premiere of the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven played with such fury that several piano strings snapped and became entangled in the hammers. I’m beginning to understand something about it. If you go searching – in self-help books or on hikes or with hallucinogens – for answers, you'll find only what light cannot illuminate, a confusion of names, today’s rain falling on yesterday. I was taught in school to never begin a sentence with “and” or “but.” But, as a practical matter, how do you do that? And why would anyone even want to? Drivers go faster and faster. More run yellow lights. There’s nothing in the stores except vinegar. Maybe if you know how to use it, this is the cure.