Page 36 -

29
Sunya
The concept of ‘nothing’ has continued to play a role in the development of everything from physics and economics to engineering and computing.
—“The Concept of Zero,” Wikipedia
Truth is, I’ve never caught on to whatever has numbers in it: I recall the words
of Mr. Dunham, the very best teacher
in my entire high school, or so I was told: “Let’s face it, son, you’ll never become
an expert at math.” Like I didn’t know that...
What in this world did Stephen and Herbie,
the algebra hotshots—what did they see
as they blithely talked their way to X?
But the venerable elm that stood in the courtyard, fighting with blight all the while I was there—
it held robins and downy fledglings, late
in spring semester: I watched them, rapt. They too appeared to embody survival.
I could see a tree and some birds, and beyond, clouds that I squinted at, trying to force
one or the other to resemble something
from my puny life, before they dispersed,
before they drifted to nonexistence.
“Computing, physics, economics”?
Don’t ask me a thing. In fact, economics
was the one course I failed in four years of college.
There too, my impressions came through a window
in that fetid classroom, where the smart students thrived.
Back in those days, the beeches on campus seemed nigh immortal, their barks silk-smooth. A certain trio of squirrels assembled
in the nearest one to the hall where I sat.
One pair would chase a solitary.
Then they’d rotate, as if they understood
the notion of it from playground tag,
though no twosome ever caught the single.
I observed all this, and assuredly.
What, however, just for one instance,
did that Long Island whiz observe when he challenged our rail-thin professor? I had one good friend
syDney leA