Thank God Arrias answered the bell this morning- he captured the moments before Splash slid the tablet across the conference table. Displayed was a large format of Vic’s upper leg with some impressive new deep incisions. DeMille rejected it, of course, but in this week in this town the display had a certain resonance with the one above.

The antenna captures urgency and sharp immediacy of all the other stuff in progress beneath it.

Rocket had promised to capture the blunt words in the Daily surgical SITREPs but instead had just flagged them for review in case vascular problems showed up again for others in the Socotra House Creative Section.

Instead, he had created a scheme to fly severed limbs in tribute to the medical recovery process we all support. There had been controversy, of course, and discussion of suitable means of honoring the surgeons, their skill with scalpels, and the fact that the leg was still attached as the plastic surgery folks promised they would leave tannable flesh artwork if the rigorous recovery regimen was followed in detail.

We will use the surgical story as an excuse for missed deadlines, but the official story will stand. The leg may be saved and we are all onboard with that!

There is more to that end of the tangled working files with weeks unread and this daily column had drifted into a how-to pamphlet on avoidance. Which is how Arrias got the lead as a sort of stage-setter to the letter:

“About an hour before dawn this morning, for just a few minutes, the sky was a crystal clear, pure lapis lazuli but with just enough light that all the branches of the trees could be seen… this amazing lace-like display against the dark blue sky…

Swamp Sunrise

The finest filigree or handmade lace,
A bounty for my eye,
There they stand in stark relief,
Black branches against a lapis sky.

A thousand thousand branches,
Baroque tracery in the Dismal Swamp,
A delicate ornamentation in a wild wood,
The subtle lines of nature’s pomp.

Daylight less than an hour off,
A moment caught in time,
A masterpiece by the greatest artist,
Winter sunrise: stark, austere, sublime.

Copyright 2025 Arrias
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