Storage Space: A Collection of Contemporary Verse by Darren A. Stein - HTML preview

Ode to the Solutions of a Math Problem at Two o’clock in the Morning

(For Heidi)

An integral equation keeps
my mind awake at night,
And robs me of my rest
till I can get its answer right.
Geometric problems plague
my thoughts and weary brain,
As algebraic fractions make me
break beneath the strain.
I’m vexed by long-division sums
and algorithms too,
Kept up by calculations like
the square of twenty-two.
At last, I finally gain relief
and drift to sleep again,
When the bloody answer hits me
in my bed at two a.m.