wiping his eyes to better see an artwork depicting the night sky , distant galaxies , and constellations , almost there was beauty here , suns like bursting egg yolks swallowing up smaller suns , comets shaped like-was it male sperm ? -blazing male sperm ? -colliding with luminous bluish-watery planets ; and , protruding from the rough surface of the canvas , a thing so unexpected , so ugly , the congressman stepped back in astonishment : was it a nestlike growth of some kind ?