for Tchiya Amet

To ascertain what measures the offender used
that allowed him to evade detection and apprehension,
we have assembled a research team.

Please remove all your clothing,
including undergarments,
and place them in this bag.

((light
is directional))

The more proficient offender
can elude law enforcement
10 or more times
leading to the hypothesis
that a task force is needed

Put on this paper gown
which opens in the back
like you.

((light is born from a surface
in many directions))

to calculate the angular distance
between victim and perpetrator.

Lie
back on the table
and spread your legs.

((a beam of light
is a bundle
of many rays))

We will measure this in AUs,
the distance between the originating event
and the time period in which the victim
can sleep again at night.

First I will swab inside your mouth
to find any telltale signs
of the assailant’s presence.

((every material
has a thermal property hence
everything glows))

To measure the perpetrator’s eccentricity,
or deviation from circular orbit, will require
averted vision, the necessity to look slightly
to the side in order to see the body again.

I’ll need to take samples of any facts
under your fingernails.

((the reflected ray
is the beam of light
that bounces off))

Investigators will determine
which types of mounts were used,
whether equatorial, in a parallel position
with the body

Then I will use this black light
to reveal traces of foreign bodies
to count how many have been there.

((the light that is reflected
will make its way
to our eyes))

or altazimuth, moving side to side,
up and down, repeatedly.

I will also swab your genital area.
This will help me determine
if you enjoyed it.

((bare skin
is a better receptor
for the shortwave band
of the sun))

The task of specimen collectors will include
documenting every circle of milk
on the body, every libration of the moon.

This is a colposcope. I will use it
to find out whose fault it really is.

((irradiation is defined
as light that impinges
upon a receiver surface
over a period of time))

Grazing occultation can occur
if the background body
is never completely hidden
from the perpetrator.

This ultrasound will allow me
to determine in what manner
your body was moving
when the incident occurred.

((the incident ray
is the beam of light
that strikes the mirror))

In this way, the night sky
is a record of the serial offender,
a profile of core behaviors.

This is a speculum. We use it
to probe your mine shaft
to determine why
the ore lies

((specular reflection
bounces off
smooth surfaces))

Occasionally the victim will experience
parallax, small positional changes
of the view of their body,

Now I will take all these envelopes
and place them in a bin
where they will sit in a warehouse

((diffuse reflection
bounces off
at many angles))

or retrograde, the sensation of the body
spinning in the opposite direction
of its orbit, so the sensation
is one of moving backward.

until they can be examined.
This may take another ten
million years.
We’ll call you.

((no object creates
its own light))