10.13.2006

19

A prime number
has

a unique
relationship
to the number
One:

it is made
only of itself
and the
lonely integer
that stands for
One,
Oneness,
Unity.

A prime number
is odd --
which is to say,
not even --
and it is
possessed
of a solitary
quality

that sets it apart
even from its
closest neighbors.

Today,
i am a prime number,
made only of myself
and
All,

marching in
rank and file
with my
colleagues;

sequential,
collaborative
and yet
stubbornly
misanthropic;
obedient,
compliant
and yet

unalterably

alone.

--Mr. Gobley

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is, by far, the most awesome poem... i'm getting blank stares and -"you're so weird" from my oldest just because i'm about jumping in my seat&exclaiming out loud over- such a Prime poem!!!

You have this thing, though- of aloneness. Why do you think that is?

Mr. Gobley said...

Some days, dear Karen, we are not prime numbers, and some days, we are...

Anonymous said...

I hope today is even, then:0).

And then, the day after- &the day after that...

Maybe we need those prime days to remind us of the Oneness we were created to feel to begin w/.

There is something, though- about this poem that, it just looks and feels so- everything. I'm thankful you share them w/us all.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

Wonderful. And how did you know my youngest was doing a school report on prime numbers?