Completing The Square

Unlike most of my poems, this is one that is actually littered with hope.

 

The hearts in Steele County
were crushed, maybe so and
yet maybe not at all

The bullying and
the apathy and the
inconsideration are
enough to make
stomachs turn

And that’s likely why
the shirts are pink

The student body,
the teaching staff,
and the administrators
are the bottles of
Pepto-Bismol trying
to keep the collective
stomach from turning
over to the sour side

But not everybody
seemed enthused with
the Nabozny story,
or any other story
of bullying and
discrimination

Just because the
superiority complex
seems to be a
defining genotype
even though the
2-2-2-10-10
ratio set defines
humanity the most

That is,
2 arms,
2 legs,
2 eyes,
10 fingers,
10 toes

Equality in God’s eyes,
or so it goes,
or so they say

And yet I consider
adulterers less than
human ninety percent
of the time, but by
the biblical letter
I’m a hypocrite

I’m an incomplete
square like
everybody else,
stunted and
awaiting the
constant that
will turn me
into a perfect
algebraic specimen

A numerical expression
extracted of its x-factor

And yet the numerical
expressions are far from
numerical perfection

Plus and minus signs,
and irreducible
square roots

In other words,
numerical irrationality
at its finest

No whole numbers,
no repeating decimals

We are all just part
of the irrational
quadratic majority

Just ask Georg Cantor
if you want the truth
in utter abstraction and
advanced symbolism

And there are more
irrational numbers than
there are naturals, wholes,
integers and rationals

The rabble outnumbers
the elite, and they are
both parts of the
same reality

Every human being
is a member of the
irrational set, and
there is no perfect
race of numbers, no
matter how badly the
eugenicists want it

This is true because
every human is numbered,
from government and
corporate databases to
the hairs on our head
thanks to a being of
metaphysical complexity

Just ask Bob Seger about
feeling like a number

And yet numbers matter
because they are the
symbols that make up the
language of the universe

We are biological machines
thriving on information theory,
a natural kind of binary after all

But machines rust, rot
and break down and
this is a universal truth
like the square that wants,
that yearns for completion

Maybe completion only
happens in the afterlife,
and we strive to retard
the further incompletion

Maybe that’s why
the student body,
the teaching staff,
the administrators
and quite possibly
the community are
taking a stand like
Pepto-Bismol does
against unruly
stomach acid

Pepto-Bismol is the
color pink after all

Before the square is completed,
the constant is excised onto the
other side of the equal sign and
the algebraic specimen longs to
be whole all over again

So, the number before
the linear power of the
variable is relegated to
half-status for only a
moment, like when a
physician performs a
major surgical operation

The tissue is reformed by
squaring the momentarily
deficient number into a new
form, thus completing the
square into the perfect
algebraic specimen it
yearned to be,
was meant to be

And maybe
that’s why pink
is the color
representing breast
cancer awareness

But only
a being of
metaphysical
complexity
can undertake
that procedure
at an emotional level

Maybe that’s why I
came to Steele County
after all, because a
human doing is better
than a human being

A human in a pink shirt
is the Pepto-Bismol of
the bully prevention racket,
stopping the acid before it starts

Because acid rots away
what is good and healthy

And that is why pink is good,
and that is why it helps to try
our best to complete our
incomplete squares

Author's Note

Please be kind, and thank you for reading and reviewing.

Reviews

[Chris]

There is no 2 in a Binary system... ones or zeroes. haves and naughts - single people in otherwise empty existences. No 2's for the fast lanes. Sigh. And yes Seger DID say it well.

You are twisted in a nice way... and I'm glad you're a friend.
Chris

[Sleepless]

k im going to be kind i loved it i loved the comaprison to math although i dont like amth myself its rreally tiresome i love the similes and metaphors that you use bullying is really the wort i try to always befirend those kids that are victims of bullying because i dwant them to live hopefully people will understand this poem nice poem really brilliant love it keep writing 1:)

[realmwriter]

It went a little over my head admitidly, but I none the less enjoyed reading it. Very intresting to say the least. I will have to come back to it when i have more time. Maybe then it wont escape me.

[Chris Taylor]

While I am have a terrible mind for math, this was one of the most elevated thinking poem I have ever read. The genius in the message and the delivery was astonding and well deserved of high praise. I loved this message and just about everything else in the poem. Very good poem.

[Tkess]

Numbers never lie. Teachers lie. Politicians lie. Human beings lie. Numbers never do. I think you make some very interesting points in this one. We think of ourselves as incomplete, but really we lack any frame of reference to decide this. People use religion, love, kids, their career to feel whole, but maybe the true meaning of this life is to challenge yourself. To learn as much as we can. To do what we can in this world before our number is called. Nice write, my good man.

[Thea]

Wow...I totally enjoyed reading this...Awesome writing...

[joshua deathdealer]

We are all one in Gods eyes.I believe that completion comes with death as we wade across the river Jordan to join His heavenly host. I like how you used math...and to me it show an equation for His creation. We are in a process..clay being molded for a divine purpose and then we have satan and his host here on earth, making us stumble, trying to keeps us from completing the code that God has mapped out for us. This is my favorite write of the day because of the depth and your awesome style. Most excellent work as always..xx

[InkSlinger]

I think I need a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, as math only makes me sick to my stomach.. and today's new math.. well that just makes me wanna throw up.. anyway, enough about math.. interesting POV approach on this one.. not sure I understand it fully, perhaps a second or third read is needed.. oh wait.. that's math again.. oh s**t, I am in trouble!!

[Meghan]

Very interesting write! I really enjoyed reading this.

[Coyote Poetry]

I like your logic in this poem. You create many good examples for your reasons and allow the reader to fall into the story in the poem. I do believe we are all numbers to some large computer in Washington D.C. A strong ending to a outstanding poem.
Coyote

[Jeremy Baker]

LOL @ Chris! Really enjoyed sinking my 'teeth' into this one, Kenneth. Really forced me to think and take it in, savour the meanings and allusions, and had a great time whilst I did as well! Fantastic writing!