Status Updates From Junky

“perhaps the intense discomfort of withdrawal is the transition from plant back to animal, from a painless, sexless, timeless state back to sex and pain and time, from death back to life.”

“junkies live a long time and often look younger than they are. when you stop growing, you start dying. an addict never stops growing.”

In the last 25 pages Bill has: peaced out of New Orleans while awaiting a court date; decided to grow and sell cotton in the Rio Grande Valley; decided fuck that and went to Mexico to avoid court entirely; got an insane hookup on morphine; almost killed a cat when that hookup ran out.

“when i jumped bail and left the States, the heat on junk already looked like something new and special. initial symptoms of nationwide hysteria were clear. louisiana passed a law making it a crime to be a drug addict. since no place or time is specified and the term ‘addict’ is not clearly defined, no proof is necessary or even relevant under a law so formulated. no proof, and consequently, no trial.”

“some people you can spot as far as you can see; others you can’t be sure of until you are close enough to touch them. junkies are mostly in sharp focus. there had been a time when my blood pressure rose with pleasure at the sight of Old Ike. when you are on the junk, the pusher is like the loved one to a lover.”

“a mild degree of junk sickness always brought me the magic of childhood. ‘it never fails,’ i thought. ‘just like a shot. i wonder if all junkies score for this wonderful stuff.’”

Communism mentioned!!

It’s tough to tell how Bill feels about his own queerness, he seems to just not care, but I find his description of “fags” as opposed to other queer people fascinating.

Literally over halfway through the book, after he’s been arrested, some asshole cop reveals Bill has a wife and kids (no idea for how long or how old), didn’t see that one coming.

My man Bill is constantly teetering on a knife’s edge - though sometimes it’s hard to discern what’s actually a threat and what’s simply his paranoia

“junk short-circuits sex. the drive to non sexual sociability comes from the same place sex comes from, so when i have an H or M shooting habit i am non-sociable. if someone wants to talk, o.k. but there is no drive to get acquainted. when i come off the junk, i often run through a period of uncontrolled sociability and talk to anyone who will listen.”