you can never enjoy

BOLLEN: I was thinking about that line you remember him asking you when he was really sick. It’s devastating. He asked you if it was the art that did this.

SMITH: “Did art get us?”

BOLLEN: Yes, that’s it. And I wondered if art kind of did. At least for him. It’s not really possible to answer that question.

SMITH: I can’t answer that. I mean, I know it got me. The question for me wasn’t if art got us. The question was, “Do we regret that?” I know art got us, because if art gets you, you never can be normal. You can never enjoy. You can’t go anywhere without trying to transform it, you know? You go into church to pray, and you start writing a story about being in a church praying. You’re always observing what you do. I noticed that when I was young going to parties. I could never lose myself in a party unless I was on the dance floor because I was always observing—observing or creating a mental scenario.

From Patti Smith's interview with Christopher Bollen (here). The him is Robert Mapplethorpe.