The Aftermathematics

by Jim Dunn

Running the numbers
After the numbers have run
In the wake of great and
Costly errors
Tallying up the scores
In a divine equation;
A long division
Carry the One
Something doesn’t add up–
Counting the beans
As they jump to their death
Leapfrog leaps of faith
Landing in hot water
Boiling to a point
Logical conclusions
Are also a form
Of tiny deaths
Like dreamless sleep
Or interrupted ecstasies
Count the losses
Measure a bottomless hole
Run your tongue over the
Absence where once was
your missing tooth
The numbers continue
To climb like acrobatic
Aeroplanes over the sea
It all comes down
To this—
The missing variable.