Dept. of Speculation

by Jenny Offill

They change their sky, not their soul, who run across the sea.

Life equals structure plus activity.

The Buddhists say there are 121 states of consciousness. Of these, only three involve misery or suffering. Most of us spend our time moving back and forth between these three.

The Buddhists say that wisdom may be attained by reaching the three marks. The first is an understanding of the absence of self. The second is an understanding of the impermanence of all things. The third is an understanding of the unsatisfactory nature of ordinary experience.

Surely all art is the result of one’s having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further.