KEIRA LYNN DODD

Math Problem

 

It is mathematical decency
to square oneself before bed,
divide head from neck,
and carry the remainder
of one's self into sleep.

All is okay when balanced,
when side equals side,
and the a's and b's of your life
are kept careful-separate
from those marked with an x
or the popular y.

Wrapped warm between parentheses,
you are safe here, safe to let
the brain multiply in endless sets
upon subsets of endless numbers,
those real and solved,

not the ones that bleed colors
which empty into pools
of naked zeroes cut in twos
or infinity upon infinity,
where you swim among the mess,
uncounted, irrational,
and alive.