"(January 5, 2006 7: 11: 00 AM CST) for poetry's sake, it's probably worth mentioning the opening few pages of italo calvino's book, "mr. palomar." the protagonist scrupously watches waves, trying to isolate one wave from the rest and catalogue everything he possibly can about a wave's different stages, different ways of moving, of interacting with other waves, of hitting the shore. of course, it's fairly impossible (but calvino doesn't leave us feeling negative). maybe this could help!"