FIVE MATH POEMS
by Eileen Tupaz
i’m tired of being a zero vector
i’m tired of being a zero vector
with no direction
no dimension
and no magnitude;
what i need is another element
– but that would be
a contradiction
of my definition
soulmates
we are all of us
nonsingular creatures
whose identities
must be affirmed
before our inverses
can be found
conformity
why must life
be a diagonal matrix?
where every other path
that deviates from the main
is an unacceptable
– zero
[ ]
we are born
as identity matrices
[nonzero]
[nonempty]
a subset
of the complexity
that is the universe
until fate hands us a scalar
from the twin ends of infinity
and we grow in magnitude
to become universes
– ourselves
breaking point
a vector
is a scalar
that has been pushed
– too far
©2000 by Eileen Tupaz
