Waking With Nils The ancient mariner lies in his bed not quite Nils yet. He’s still a sea otter floating on his back looking at the moon – the remains of an abalone dusting his stomach content as if he were Nils after a good martini. The restless ocean billows about him, but he rides high as a cork thinking his philosphical-otter thoughts, wondering “How many miles to Babylon.
The restless ocean billows about him, but he rides high as a cork thinking his philosphical-otter thoughts, wondering “How many miles to Babylon. ” Nils wakes to the old debate Things are themselves, but also shapes – the flat rectangles of these bedroom walls, the contoured cylinder of the coffee thermos, the humped cartography of the white comforter. So eye flickers between the particular and the abstract.
So eye flickers between the particular and the abstract. In Rafael’s painting "At the Academy," Plato points to heaven, Aristotle to the earth.