The Impossibility Theorem

by John MacBeath Watkins

I’m sitting on the edge of my world

waiting for Columbus to come

waiting for the seeker of some secret shore 

to cast me a line and draw me close once more. 

We were parallel lines 

born never to meet

 until we ran into each other on this Mobeus street. 

Now I with all my mind 

cannot divine the final Pi 

but the laws the numbers live by

have long divided you and I. 

That world of liquid crystals

has seen unreason in our sins 

and with a clashing of its symbols

sought to bring its logic in. 

‘I divorced old barren reason’

 wise old Khayyam said 

and she showed up on our doorstep

where her lonely logic led. 

At    Pythagoras’ insistence 

she restored our perfect distance 

so I’m sitting on the edge of my world 
waiting for Columbus to come 
listening to the death of my words
 toppling off the tip of my tongue.



(by the way, I'm trying to label all the poetry and posts about poetry with the word "poetry" so that you can click on the label below and see all poetry and poetry-related posts on this blog.)