Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Checkmate



Checkmate

What is the precise population

of New York City?

Of Baghdad?

Of Hiroshima or Nagasaki?

How many pistaschios
are there in
Tehran?

What is the precise length

of the Mississippi River?

How long is the Ganges

in centimeters?

When the Nile floods
how many square inches
are covered with water?

How many piranha
are there in the Amazon?

What is the exact distance

at its shortest point

of the planet Earth from Mars?

How many devils are there in Tasmania?

Are all human beings viviparous?


And how many of you
are there in the world
(at any one point)?



How many grains of sand
on the beach nearest to
any one personality?

Have you counted them?

How long in nanoseconds
did it take you to understand
this poem?

Don't forget to count yourself.

(copyright EAC)

1 comment:

Thorndike Pickledish said...

The answer is 12 !
and if it isn't --I will tell myself over and over that it is !

Let that mysterious 23 thrive on it's om !
a wonderful,mysterious pOeM