The Approach and the Square: A Transcript

When considered separately, line segments and angles behave in a simple manner: the combined length of two line segments placed end-to-end along the same line is the sum of the individual lengths, and the combined angular measure of two rotations about the same point in the plane is the sum of the individual rotations.*

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It is a common experience that an object appears to change its position— as viewed against a remote background— when the observer changes their own position, or when viewed simultaneously by two observers at different places.*

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The choice of a particular projection depends on the intended purpose; one may show the correct distance between two points on the globe, another the relative area of countries, and yet another the direction between two points. But preserving any of these features always comes at the expense of others: every map projection is a compromise between conflicting demand.*

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Looking out from R15
From an empty window
Bricks falling apart
Roof caved in (but only on one side)
toward the road, alone, with dark red leaves

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Surrounded by 1 2 3 4 5

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By the edge of the path
In the flower beds
A book open
Pages exposed
Enjoying the sun, the shadow, the shade

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A scented bed to look up past the glass walls
Past a pattern formed from letters, from words, from borrowed languages
Toward the sky

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Scaling the side of a pink building
Tail outstretched
In the process of becoming Other
Not necessarily dangerous
Not necessarily safe
But visible, and exposed, and honest

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By the roadside, safe in the grass no longer touched by the wind
But craving it. Craving the air, craving the height, but from the ground.
A reminder that she is thinking of you.

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In a darkened shop it sits in the shadows
Almost out of sight
Under a shelf
Surrounded by cups and bowls and basins
A small bit of daylight falls on its edge, and it’s still there.
Waiting for its contents to mature
The shop is on a corner
With one window open and one window frosted, hard to see through, letting in only light

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I look across the square and I can see the squares
on bright display
Though behind them it’s their magic on the inside that can only be seen by others
from the outside they sit quietly
Only present
Underneath the eyebrow windows that are hollow and empty
Not sinister, but tall
Ready to transform the light into color
And across the square they reflect the sun onto those who look

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Looking down, I recognized names and achievements
Accomplishments from places far away
But preserved in the sidewalk
Here
With a year, with a name, and a place

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Held in bronze
A marigold
An orange bit of life against stillness
One arm still, one arm upheld at shoulder level
By the side of the path and looking at the wall
towards the brick and the thick
Not defiant
But present and strong

*Maor, Eli. Trigonometric Delights. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.