The Grid
For Rene' Descartes
There is the X, Y
and, complicating everything
with depth, the Z.
From this fundamental simplicity,
houses, cities, regions.
A nebula stretches across the grid.
From the zero point,
eternity extends.
The point is, where is the zero point?
Where is always variable,
a choice that splays
a chosen perspective;
a free body diagram
to serve an immediate whim.
For Rene', the zero point
was always God,
the still point
extending ever after.
There is the X, Y
and, complicating everything
with depth, the Z.
From this fundamental simplicity,
houses, cities, regions.
A nebula stretches across the grid.
From the zero point,
eternity extends.
The point is, where is the zero point?
Where is always variable,
a choice that splays
a chosen perspective;
a free body diagram
to serve an immediate whim.
For Rene', the zero point
was always God,
the still point
extending ever after.
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Author's Note
A little tribute to the Cartesian coordinate system
Other stories by Gary Hardaway
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Especially like and connect with the closing. Zero point. Made me also think of the zero hour in Dickinson.
"still point extending ever after" ***
Math has always befuddled me, with philosophy close behind. But I found myself nodding affirmatively reading this. Some magic, maybe? *
*
The zero pint for me is the still point of Eliot's Quartets. Also, the singularity at the instant before the Big Bang ushered in all our space and time and all.
Thank you, Sam,
and Rachna,
and Matt,
and Amanda.
It has a very Cartesian feel to it, brief but potent. No words are wasted in this piece. I enjoyed it as always Gary
Thank you, Tyler.