penguin raze sybren left something in front of a bench for us. it was a lamp. a monkey stood smirking on all fours. its tail curved above its head and attached to two brass loops that held a bare bulb. "there's something you need to know about this," he said. "there's a defect. every lamp i've ever seen has a crack in the tail. i guess they couldn't quite get it right." he showed us where the flaw was. i followed his finger to a thin horizontal line that ran through the cast iron flesh. "you might want to colour it in," he said. "i've always felt like i'm kind of cracked myself," i told him. "so he's in good company." the shade was on the ground beside the body of the lamp. "i really enjoyed this," he said. "and i love that lampshade. isn't it nice? i almost kept it for myself and gave you a different one. but it does go with the lamp. so i kept them together." i told him we had something for him too. a few weeks ago, i asked what his favourite animals were. "i love bears," he said. "and penguins. but i only have about four of those." i know he's trying to get rid of things. so i found a tiny needle-felted penguin on etsy. it came from kingston. something in its face spoke to me. "something small," i said. "so it won't create clutter." he laughed and said, "oh! i love it!" and that's the best music i've heard all day. 220917 what's it to you? who go blather from