As in the case of cats

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I   H e a r d   T h a t

Sweetness the Tuxedo Cat

Columbia, South Carolina

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Surfaces serve
their own purposes,
strive to remain
constant (all lives
want that). There is
a skin, not just on
peaches but on oceans
(note the telltale
slough of foam on beaches).
Sometimes it’s loose,
as in the case
of cats: you feel how a
second life slides
under it. Sometimes it
fits. Take glass.
Sometimes it outlasts
its underside. Take reefs.

The private lives of surfaces
are innocent, not devious.
Take the one-dimensional
belief of enamel in itself,
the furious autonomy
of luster (crush a pearl --
it’s powder), the whole
curious seamlessness
of how we’re each surrounded
and what it doesn’t teach.

= Kay Ryan =

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Happy Wednesday