in The God of Small Things, the old Baby Kochamma writes "i love you" every night to Father Mulligan in her diary. she stands out in my mind as a contemporary mythical figure, a rock made of grief like niobe. some tellings of the story choose not to say who transmogrified her; it's simply what comes next. that omission makes it sound like the most natural thing in the world, which is the most exquisite way a verb can function.

anyhow, the last thing i want to do is to end up as an allegory of fruitless fixation like Baby Kochamma: a living rock, stunted with an unrealized desire.

more importantly, what sort of rock was niobe changed to? sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic? i'd say metamorphic because i can't resist a pun.


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