while considering the origins of the self-replicating inflationary universe,
the mathematician finds he cannot keep his mind on the geometry of scalar fields
and off the topology of last night’s waitress
in particular, with regard to the way in which she is identical
to his coffee cup, the contents of which he sips while wondering
if “identical with” is perhaps not the more correct form
(Copyright 2023 by Tetman Callis.)