If a line goes in one direction and another is perpendicular
while a third crosses them both, that line is diagonal.

Sometimes we think of a diagonal as a shortcut as opposed to
the longer way to a destination but there are often warnings like
“shortcuts make long delays” or “shortcuts mean get cut short.”

But then there are phrases offering advice like “make a beeline”
or “it’s a timesaver” or “it’s more efficient to take the shortest
distance between two points.”

The diagonals I like are inferences such as: “A rolling stone
gathers no moss” and “moss grows without roots” where
the two infer a diagonal of “without place.”

How malleable the subtlety of our language when expressing
our efficacy, our pliable bent and even our invariable artistic
geometric designs.

“You do not play things as they are…Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar…A tune upon a blue guitar
of things exactly as they are.”