The Library of Maps, #7
THE ARPANET MAP AND ERATOSTHENESí GEOGRAPHICA

I
The young woman
—whose pierced ears, lip, and nostrils,
necklace of computer chips,
and futuristic silver metal dress and boots
caused furtive glances from the Library readers—
Often came to seek out the original map
(carefully preserved in the vault of the Library)
Of the first Arpanet attempts
To join computers together on September 2, 1969.
http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/casa/martin/atlas/historical.html

Her mother, L.,
Was the inventor,
And the young woman, A.,
Would sit in the vault,
Her head resting on her chin,
With a dreamy look in her eyes,
Thinking about her.

It was almost
As if she thought that by handling this sketch often enough,
Some of her mother’s inventiveness
Would rub off on her fingers.

A. was herself
A highly gifted mathematician and poet.
But that was not enough.

She wanted to be
Her mother’s daughter,
And follow in her footsteps.

One day in the vault,
She found herself jotting down words,
Fast and furious,
On a piece of paper.

That night, sitting by the lake,
She read what she had written.
It was an urgent request
From her dead mother.

Each day
She returned to sit by the Lake of the Heart,
Speculating how to realize her mother’s dream
—to have her map stored
In the old Library of Alexandria.

On the twenty-eighth day,
She came to a conclusion,
And spoke to the Chief Librarian and the Cataloguer
About her ideas.

They agreed
To make a facsimile of the Arpanet Map,
And had it traced
On a new, indestructible fabric
Designed to resist the inroads of time.

II
A. traveled with this facsimile to Alexandria.

Although she knew there were great plans afoot
For a new Library, the “Bibliotheca Alexandrina,”
She sought out help instead from R.,
Who had lived for several centuries in Alexandria
Since arriving there in 295 BC.
http://www.collegeart.org/caa/publications/AJ/roth8b.html

R. arranged
For A.’s mother’s map be placed
In the Mouseion of the Great Library of Alexandria.

Readers
Who are able to find their way to the vanished Great Library
Can study both Eratosthenes’ Geographica
And the Arpanet Map.

The most daring readers
Illegally copy these maps
And from thereon
Can escape death
By moving back and forth in time.

Other readers,
Who only study the maps in the Great Library of Alexandria itself,
Are allowed
To choose the moment of their death
In the past, present, or future.


by Moira Roth
3/22/01, reworked /25/01, 4/15