ninth night

i'm in a motel somewhere in oregon. it's raining outside. wonderful. i drove until i ran out of gas, then bought more gas, then drove some more. i didn't even stop to eat.

the compass was a beacon, to find me. he wanted to find me. why? he's not my brother. not anymore.

once upon a time, there was a young girl named sherry and her big brother. one day, a golem appeared and started to grow bigger and bigger. sherry was worried, so she hit the golem and broke it, so it couldn't get bigger. it was stuck. but then it attacked sherry's brother, pushing its way into his body, drilling into him with its little needle legs. "i can feel it, sherry," he said. "i can feel it inside me."

he's not my brother anymore. he's part of the golem. just like it uses blood and bone and sinew, it's using him.

why does it want me? is it because i broke it?

i have to go.

fourth night

the compass has not moved. i have a camera trained on it twenty-four hours. it has not moved. was i wrong?

and now a story:

prometheus was a titan who made man from clay and mud. he taught man to hunt and read and heal and finally, in defiance against the gods, stole fire for man. how was he repaid? zeus chained him to a rock and had eagles devour his liver night after night.

when benjamin franklin began to experiment with lightning and electricity, immanuel kant called him a "modern prometheus." stealing fire from the gods. creating something from electricity. a new artificial life.

the golem, resurrected by lightning.

it is much older than we believe. much older.

only now it is not made of clay nor mud, but chrome and steel.

the golem machine.

the compass moved.

third night

i found a compass in my desk drawer today.

there is another story about the golem.

in this story, the golem was created by the gaon r. eliyahu ba'al shem. it was made of matter (golem) and form (tzurah) from the book of creation (sefer yetzirah). but the gaon saw the golem was growing larger and larger and he feared that it would it grow so large as to destroy the universe. so the gaon removed the holy word and the golem crumbled to dust, but not before it scarred the gaon.

i found a compass in my desk drawer today.

i have never owned a compass.

it is here.