Stephen Payne is incorrigibly inventive. Within a few months of The Windmill Proof, he has set out to investigate some philosophical thought experiments in a set of nineteen poems. Intricate form, shape and idea cohere in a fascinating and educative set. 'The Missing Shade of Blue' (see below) is only one of them.
This is Stephen's third HappenStance publication. Something to celebrate!
THE MISSING SHADE OF BLUE
—David Hume (1739) A Treatise of Human Nature
There’s one particular shade of blue
you’ve never seen. But when you view
the other shades, ordered by hue
from deep to light,
its absence will be clear to you—
if Hume was right.
What’s more, he claimed you could restore
the missing shade of blue by pure
thought. Maybe this is what thought’s for,
to make or find
a colour you’ve not seen before
inside your mind.
