October 21, 2006

• It was a slaughter…

  My Algebra teacher took no prisoners.  There was much weeping and distress and varying degrees of emotional dishabile amongst the students.  The study guide had nothing to do with the exam, not even as examples…why do teachers do that?  Power trip?  Sadistic pleasure?

  For those of you following my mini memoir, that should resume tomorrow or Monday.  In the meantime, here’s a poem…

  Equations

  We sit at other sides of
  lines drawn in the sand,
  a matter of quadratics
  where the answer is nothing
  and some other number
  which we cannot deduce.

  There is no agreement amongst the digits,
  no viable way to draw from one side
  without subtracting some vital piece
  of what makes us individuals;
  the x of me or the y of you.

  Like mathematicians, we pour over
  the complicated tangle of both halves
  in order to create a new formula,
  which may look messy in the end
  but at least it all makes sense.
  

   

  
   

  • 1:12 pm
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