Symbols of Transformation The yellows and creams blaze a little brighter when you get older; the blue-gray of the office furniture doesn’t look so bad. The details are different because you are Grandma Moses: the cows come right up into your face and moo, sunlight pours out of a large hole and the trees are toothpicks and it’s okay like this, it’s a little like staring at yourself in a funhouse mirror: your body has melted into your shoes and your neck extends into a curve in time-space and the flashbulb pops, the graduates heave a sigh of relief and their mortarboards into the backseat. Driving home, you watched the streetlights flash on the seat covers and when you pulled into the driveway it wasn't Mom and Dad who got out of the car, but two large goats. #ron_padgett