Aristotle’s Lantern

by Nicolle Elizabeth

Sea urchin, most commonly known as sea urchin, are also called heart urchin. Or Aristotle’s Lantern. This is because Aristotle opened the sea urchin first. The Lantern is a soft innard within a hard, prickly shell. A delicacy in some countries, it’s math. Aristotle had a satchel of marbles, and he put them out on a table and watched while they scattered. The question then was whether the marbles, some on the floor, were still his because they were no longer in his satchel but existed within the room, under his feet, and so, they were there, they didn’t have to be his. They were there. When he went searching for the heart, it was math. He was wondering, what is inside this spine? It was heart. A light within the dark, something soft, breathing, alive.

Nicolle Elizabeth is a baker and bike mechanic in New York. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Caketrain, Keyhole, Wigleaf, elimae, Night Train, and others. She has a chapbook forthcoming from Paper Hero Press, and thinks with writing, that she may attempt to forge a new kind of hero. Attempt to.
Back to Issue Four: Summer 2009