‘Hyperbolic Paraboloid’ by Maija Haavisto

Foretaste of the future
by K.G. Ricci

Hyperbolic Paraboloid

we’ll start with the ending here:
no, not skipping all the way
to the heat death of the universe
only to the rock crumble that
finally fought its way free
from the shackles of humanity
and united with nature
(it was always nature)

rewind to the idea that
stuff is permanent if we just
plaster and band-aid it
when it develops a boo-boo
gravel was once juicy fluid
seeping from the earthflesh
but no need to go that far now
just the hot lava being
mixed into concrete
the stone taxidermy, stuffed
the dramatic arch, enforced
flimsy mock-rock falling apart
from conception
a sarcophagus in recursion

before this
there were two dimensions:
pixel lines and hand-drawn lines
future lines sparkling with electricity
in the synaptic gap
and even before that
two neurons joined hands
to form what could have been
a hyperbolic paraboloid
but to be honest, probably was
something else


Maija Haavisto has had two poetry collections published in Finland: Raskas vesi (Aviador 2018) and Hopeatee (Oppian 2020). In English her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in e.g. Moist, Capsule Stories, ShabdAaweg Review, The North, Streetcake, ANMLY, Eye to the Telescope, Shoreline of Infinity and Kaleidoscope. Follow her on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/DiamonDie She has poetry readings available on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/DiamonDie.


K.G. Ricci, a self-taught New York City artist, made a collage on a file cabinet in 2015. The creative possibilities of the medium immediately inspired him. Fifty cut and paste panels followed, visual improvisations on 20” x 40” or 2’ X 4’ hardboard. Recently, Ricci sustained his implied narrative focus in Numbered-Not Named, a series of original pieces, 6” x 9” on black stock.  His current project, Random Thoughts in the Waiting Room, is a visual flash fiction series of books with a single word or a fragment of text in each collage composition. Ricci has exhibited in 27 galleries including solo shows and many more online galleries. His collages have been published in poetry and literary magazines nationally and internationally online and in print.