With a ripple in nothing,
the universe begins --
not black strokes on white paper,
but a single strand of mulberry fiber or hemp
in washi paper
refusing the lesson of the bleach
or reacting to the machinations
of a single quantum in a single atom
in a single doppelgänger fiber
in another quantum reality --
unreachable even at lightspeed with all of time
but as close as the imperceptible recognition
in your left arm
that your right arm has moved.




			Brandywine
			9/19/98