PDF

Section


by stephen hastings-king


In one section of the map C climbs a staircase. He climbs a spiral that gets no wider. The number of stairs never varies.  His hand wears a groove in the stone wall.  Periodically there is a platform.  On the platform to his left there is a slit in the wall.  He always looks out onto the same view; a stretch of grass cut to the same length; four trees at noon that cast no shadows arrayed around a sculpture of a man with a beard who resembles him sitting at a desk.  He holds in one hand a compass; with the other he holds his head. On the desk is spread a map; some of it spills over the side. He is always gazing with the same intensity at the one section of the map in which C climbs a staircase.  He climbs a spiral that gets no wider. The number of stairs never varies.  His hand wears a groove in the stone wall.  Periodically there is a platform.  On the platform to his left there is a slit in the wall.  He always looks out onto the same view; a stretch of grass cut to the same length; four trees at noon that cast no shadows arrayed around a sculpture of a man with a beard who resembles him sitting at a desk.  He holds in one hand a compass; with the other he holds his head. On the desk is spread a map; some of it spills over the side. He is always gazing with the same intensity at the one section of the map in which C climbs a staircase. 
Endcap