I do not like
The number five -
The way its
Top is set in a rigid
Ninety degree angle
That I could so easily
Stub a toe on
Or ram my head into.
How it curves itself
Into that swooping
Bottom, rocking like a
Baby’s bright blue bassinet-
Back and forth,
Back and forth.
As though it does
Not quite know who
It wants to be:
A strict legalist
With the hard lines of
A four or seven?
Or a loose
Egalitarian,
Like the infinite
Curves of an eight?
We find it at
The Center of the
Building blocks of
Our mathematical system.
Is it the great diplomat?
Dancing on middle
Ground, or
Passively indecisive?
I stumble over it with
My pencil like I am
Fumbling for,
My keys.
It forces patience and space for
Contemplation.
Does this number
Have any meaning to
Begin with?
What about me?
What do these scribbles
Really signify?
I should stop writing
That number.