A Prismatic Angle

A bevel-edged glass pendant from an old suncatcher lay loose on the rug. Instead of testing its structural load, I tilted the heavy glass shard upward against a flat wooden block using both curved hands. The afternoon sunlight hit the prism squarely. Instantly, an intense spectrum band formed on the floorboards, slicing the room's neutral tones with vivid violet, cyan, and red bars. I adjusted the tilt by two millimeters to widen the color grid across the wood. The refraction settled into sharp, steady stripes.