vicious trap » deform | reform | perform

glASS (and other imponderables)

1. Monday
   
   Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches infinitely in all directions.
   
   i could count your scars in emptiness
   emblems
   of all the people in history that have reached 65 years of age, half of them are living now
   half life
   ancient starlight
   wish i may, wish i might
   dissolve me on your tongue tonight
   
   everybody’s favorite pest is back
   Good girl that she was, she decided to set the table.
   
   upon a house of air
   a house of air and sky
   On Mount Meru, at the cliffs of space.
   
   square foot weight
   square foot weight
   square foot weight of tempered glass of three-eighths
   square foot weight of tempered glass of three-eighths
   is four point nine pounds
   pounds
   
   The one unbreakable rule: everything must be geometrically spaced.
   
   Soiling your beautiful, never covering it in plastic. Soiling your beautiful.
   An amorphous solid that has been around in various forms for thousands of years and has been manufactured for human use since 12.
   12.
   12 – zero, zero, zero. B and C.
   See, the one unbreakable rule. Soiling your beautiful.
   A supercooled liquid.
   Rigid and static, not changed molecularly. Swelling space. Swelling space.
   She rose stiffly to her feet, “I don’t think anything’s broken.” Swelling space.
   
   “You’re just being mean,” she said. “So long, Pizzaface.”
   
   
   
2. Tuesday
   
   In accordance with the extravagant tastes of deities, the artificer has hung a single, glittering jewel in each “eye” of the net and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number.
   
   Even one of Einstein’s “bad ideas” has proven prophetic.
   
   It can be formed by a lightning strike on a beach.
   
   “What good girls we have,” said Mrs. Quimby when she returned from work with her waistline no larger than it had been the day before. Celery, olives, rolls, jelly, chocolates, fruit, ice water, soda, and lime.
   
   What good girls we have, but it is difficult for even the more skillful server not to spill something on someone. Note that the oyster or shellfish fork is the only fork ever to be placed on the right.
   
   Glass beads, jars, and eating materials first appeared in ancient Egyptian culture. Knives with crystal or carved-bone handles may be used with any pattern: a multifaceted jewel at each vertex and each jewel is reflected in all of the other jewels. It is entirely incorrect, for example, to use heavy pottery salad plates with fine china dinner plates, just as it is to use paper with damask.
   
   It’s melted sand, nothing more, nothing less. Ancient starlight, melted sand. Nothing more, nothing less. Your panties are a mess.
   
   
   
3. Wednesday
   
   There hang the jewels, glittering like stars in the first magnitude, a wonderful sight to behold.
   
   Usually plain or bordered in silver or gold. I can’t spend the rest of my life on the couch being good. Usually bordered in silver or gold. It is not necessary that all silver match, although all forks or all spoons or all stars should be of the same pattern at one space setting, so that the light does not shine into the eyes of those at the table.
   
   In a universe where infinitely repeated mutual relations exist between all members of the universe, the glass has flowed down and there are those who are fortunate enough to have lovely table linens.
   
   Soda is called flux, lime is ground from limestone and candles for the most formal dinner should be white and brand-new. It brings the melting point of the mixture down, it makes the mixture more viscous, and there is no evidence of smoke or drips. Starlight should remain lighted until the guests leave the dining room. A star for each person.
   
   By Wednesday, she began to dread being good because being good was boring, so she was happy to see Howie coming down the street, wheeling his bicycle with his unicycle balanced across the seat and handlebars.
   
   Emptiness.
   
   She was even happier when he laid both on her driveway.
   
   Dependent origination.
   
   She met him at the door.
   
   Interpenetration.
   
   She will not interact with material stored inside. Interpenetration.
   
   “Atta girl,” said Howie.
   
   
   
4. Thursday
   
   If we now arbitrarily select one of these jewels for inspection and look closely at it, we will discover that in its polished surface there are reflected all the other jewels in the net, infinite in number.
   
   at the cliffs of space
   cutting me open with Indra’s thunderbolt
   most hostesses prefer that everything that exists implies all else that exists
   cutting me open
   just to the right
   is the salad knife
   next is the meat knife
   outside is the fish knife
   the cutting edge inside
   
   swelling space
   “Well I am not a baby now,” she grew more determined and contrary.
   
   
   
5. Friday
   
   Not only that, but each of the jewels reflected in this one jewel is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that there is an infinite reflecting process occurring.
   
   
   There are a few overall considerations that should be given attention.
   
   Of all the people in history that have reached 65 years of age, half of them are alive right now
   “Well, I am not a baby now.”
   
   The old custom of wrapping a roll in the napkin was most impractical and, fortunately, is passé.
   Of course, the girls’ parents when they came home, were delighted to see what well-behaved daughters they had. The girls looked closely at their mother’s waistline to see if she had gained weight since breakfast.
   Swelling space.
   The colloquial description of eating “from soup to nuts” does not apply.
   Celery, olives, rolls, jelly, chocolates or fruits.
   Salt and pepper.
   Ice water.
   It is not solid, it is not glass.
   
   Good girl that she was, she rose stiffly to her feet, “I don’t think anything’s broken.”
   
   Wish i may, wish i might.
   So long, pizzaface.
   Dissolving on your tongue tonight.