I stared at the left pole first. It was smooth, cool-looking, with a single hairline scratch running up its side like a vein. The right pole was identical, except for a faint smear of rust near its base. I looked at the hole. Nothing. Dirt, maybe roots. The air smelled of wet moss and my own boredom.
The poles were exactly as promised: two of them, gray and brushed metal, standing waist-high in a clearing of ferns. Between them, a hole. Not a pit or a crater—just a hole, dark as a pupil, about the size of a dinner plate. A small wooden sign said LOOK LONGER . 2poles 1hole
I haven't told my girlfriend. She already knows. I stared at the left pole first
The brochure called it Two Poles, One Hole —a minimalist art installation tucked at the end of a gravel path in a forest no one remembered to name. I went because my girlfriend said it changed her, and because I had nothing better to do on a Tuesday. I looked at the hole
