Materials
1 sheet black paper
1 pin
1 lamp, shade optional
1 small ball or orb, 3-5 inches in diameter
Instructions
Take a sheet of jet-black paper
and a pin.
Poke holes in the dark page.
Random pinholes are fine,
but you could also make patterns if you like—
the outline of a woman
with a sword,
a chariot,
or an octopus,
a cat, perhaps,
or a unicorn
or even a unicorn cat
with laser beams shooting evil
a manatee or cow or crow or
in-flight eagle or wren
a dog, a baby, a minotaur
a crab, lobster, a two-headed seahorse
with a whip—
there’s room for tens or hundreds or even
many more than that.
Now, set up the bright lamp on that
high dresser behind you
or on a table while you are sitting on the floor.
Turn it on and let it burn,
remove the shade if the light isn’t brilliant enough.
Let it shine all over the room.
Next, bend your pitch black
pin-pricked paper gently.
Don’t fold it, for God’s sake!
Gently bend it over that small ball.
Hold each edge—one with thumb
and one with middle finger—
at the halfway point of the small sphere
so the sable paper arches over one half of the orb.
Hold the paper-covered side of the globe up to the brilliant light.
Then peek over the paper,
peer over its edge,
the rim of darkness,
and see me sitting far, far below
in an Adirondack chair
on a pitch black beach,
my feet buried in the cold sand
in front of the waning embers of
a fire,
staring up,
agog.
