EXPLAINING RELATIVITY TO THE CAT
Imagine, if you will, three mice.
Contrary to what you have
heard, they are not blind
but are in a spaceship
traveling near the speed of light.
This makes them unavailable
for your supper, yes.
So these mice, traveling near
the speed of light, appear
quite fat, though there is
no cheese aboard. This is
simply a distortion of mass,
because the mass of a mouse
is nothing more than a bundle
of light, and vice versa. I see
how this might imply mice
are in the light fixtures,
undoubtedly a problem, so
let me try again.
If two people attempted
to feed you simultaneously,
no doubt a good situation,
but you were on a train
traveling near the speed
of light, the food would
appear unappetizing, falling
to the plate in slow motion,
an extended glob of protein
that never smelled good,
if you ask me, train or no.
The affinity of the food
for the plate, what we call
gravity, is really just
a stretch in the fabric
of a space-time continuum,
what happens when you
have sat in a seat too long,
perhaps on this very train.
Oh kitty, I know how you hate
to travel and the journey must
have made you tired. Come now,
lick your coat one more time
-and let us make haste
-from this strange city
-of light and fantastic dream.
— Jennifer Gresham
from Diary of a Cell. © Steel Toe Books
The sun rose slowly,
like a fiery furball coughed up uneasily
onto a sky-blue carpet
by a giant unseen cat.
~ Michael McGarel
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