The Two-sided Point

or How the Box Became One Dimensional

January 12, 1971

 

Looking down the hall

I noticed a young woman

        Stepping out of a door

And at the same time

    I saw her

        leaving the room

                through that door

It was a natural case

    Of unthinking thought

    Of seeing the positive effect

            of the negative

    Of seeing the second image

            without knowledge of the

                                               first


Turning the corner of the

            curving hall

I stumbled on a non-existent

                                        existence

It was a rubber tube

                with no insides

I picked it up and

        lightly flung it violently

        into the void behind me


Leaving the first floor

I walked up two flights of stairs

        and entered the basement

It was a very small room

        with no walls

On the left there hung a painting

        of a one-dimensional object

I laid on the floor, staring

            at the ceiling

And gradually fell into a deep sleep

    Dreaming about seeing myself

    lying on the floor

        while doing just that.