Physis Versus Nomos

an excerpt by Gordon Lish

So I says to the window-shade man, I says to him you see this window shade, this window shade’s no good, this window shade is beat to shit, this window shade has been in my window since who knows when, I need a new window shade, how about a new window shade, you got another window shade for me just like this one, and so the window-shade man takes the window shade from me and the window-shade man, he says to me just like this one, just like this one, there can be no window shade just like this one, even this one cannot be just like this one when you said to me just like this one since this one is now not a window shade in your hands, this one is now a window shade in my hands, whereupon I says to the window-shade man yeah but barring all that, but barring all that, let’s get down to cases, cases, says the window-shade man, you want cases, says the window-shade man, here’s cases for you just to begin with, says the window-shade man, as in see this grommet you got here in this window shade, what we do here is we don’t do a thing like this grommet you got here, you want a grommet, you don’t come here, you want a grommet in it as far as a window shade, you go down the block you get a grommet…