Some Numbers: for Cheryl Clarke
Even though I am not even a little
numbers oriented, I do like
how some numbers look, seven so elegant,
even though one of my favorite grammar school
teachers taught math, she was a favorite
because of her dresses, Muriel Musante wore
one good dress after another, even though
I couldn't say the word fifty when I turned fifty
I went to Guatemala where my fifty meant nothing
to anyone I met, absolutely nothing except for one woman
probably fifty who told me I would be short soon
I know for sure that numbers, although there are plenty
of intelligent math majors, whole schools of them,
numbers don't mean much. But birthdays do.