Someone told me they read on a blog that two people had tattooed on their wrists the phrase “Hope gleams in the idiot heart,” a line from the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky that they found in my novel THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS. I have always loved the permanence of tattoos, the conviction by the person who gets one that they will be happy to have this thing on their body ten, twenty, thirty years from now. But besides the stupid tattoos I see all over the place today, I have yet to see or think of anything I would want on my skin forever. However hearing about this tattoo today I thought, that’s a pretty cool one to have on you till you die. A good permanent reminder that no matter what, there are almost always surprises around life’s corners and we should keep our heads up to see them