metaphrs Issue 1 | Page 19

there exists a thing called zero                                              ∃ 0' I first saw you in the train, through the grab poles: the kind that looks frayed, the kind which three people can grab at the same height without the necessity of physical contact. There weren’t any hands there now, which was how I saw you through the widest part of the gap, the curved boundary of the brushed steel framing you sitting in the middle seat; the one furthest from every reserved seat in the carriage. I said “I... saw you”. Well, as a matter of fact, I saw your book. Something about cardinals in set theory, whatever that meant. I saw the cover with its primary shade of blue, and the title, coloured white, in a pleasant geometric font. A few weeks after the day that I realised we were both heading to the same book launch, you would lend me that book of primary colours – on closer inspection, there too were primary shades of red and yellow on the cover –  issue 01 | zaw lin htoo