The Experiment of the Eyelashes
4. History
The experiment of the eyelashes does not begin with design or the glinting slide in the microscope's grip or the amber vial, corked and wrapped in yellow paper, tucked neatly in a box lined with jeweler's cotton. It does not begin inside the vial, the too brief twist near tangle, the specimens, the hundreds. It begins with the hot the breathing wish, the suggestion of parenthetical shadow, the gentle taking the keeping. It is possible (is it not?) that we might leave indelible marks. That we might find them.