I Started This One Hobby Counting in My Head
Doing sums in ones head is taxing
even more divisive is division,
compulsorily holding over hundreths
all the whilst imagining that wry little
box with its no-name description,
“long division symbol”, the one with or
without a flourish to its tail. Or
that brilliant obelus, unrecognizable
by those without a 10-key. Dear dots to my
dash, a perfect cookie sandwich with more
filling than crust. Or solidus,
that in-line slash, more confusing
since the paring of compound denominators
can lead to mistakes of relationship.
And we all — even those who distrust math –
know what happens when the cuddle of a missing
parentheses holds sway or turns its back the wrong way.
* * *
My 2011 NoWriPo is a self-starter, a riff on a brilliant work, I Am A Very Productive Entrepreneur by Mathias Svalina. Don’t be disappointed. Read the Real Thing. And support small presses, too.
“Write a tribute poem” is today’s prompt, thanks to Poetic Asides 2011 PAD Chapbook Challenge.. Just because I am contrary, I am riffing on an “other” definition: a : a payment by one ruler or nation to another in acknowledgment of submission or as the price of protection; also : the tax levied for such a payment. And no. My poem doesn’t amount to a tribute. But figures are involved. So shoot me.
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