Two hypothetical men sit at a hypothetical table
before a device which displays a sequence of images
at a per second rate greater than the eye can transmit.
This is called continuity; it exists
only in the mind, which is hypothetical.

The two men discuss a theoretical future; around them
is a time machine carrying them to it.
They describe its miracles:
air-cushion chairs, force-fields, anti-gravity...
My miracles are the molecules of the table
which I hold by brute force in their positions and relations,
giving the illusion of form and the semblance of solidity.

To know the female and the hypothetical male
and even the laws of distances, one must drain the hypothesis
and clean it. This is called knowing the ultimate
by one sage or another, but I know only the machine
with its flicker of images and a permanent discussion
between two men at a permanent table.
They are subject to instantaneous change.

March 13, 1977

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