The pneumatically operated subway doors
Glide shut behind me. I seat myself
Wedging between two one-legged women.
One has her left amputated the other her right.
Serves me right to be so lucky.
Being an engineer I toss heat exchange formulae
And calculate mentally how quickly my thighs
Would warm if I walked in from the middle
Of winter and what if each woman sat
With one good thigh against mine.
But it’s mid-summer and I’m fantasizing.
Being shit out of luck I look
Across half-drawn glass panes
Into the next compartment where two chaps
Read torn half-page newspapers.
I wonder until I notice they are half-faced.
Well, half the news is better than none
And half the pain if it’s bad chitchat and
Since I am half-witted it suits me fine.
Then I think what if those women sat
With their amputated sides against me?
Would we make a happy threesome?
At least we could walk without crutches
With me hanging off their shoulders
And if you’re still reading this and think of Alice
And the wonders of this world
You understand one-quarter of my meaning.
I don’t want to confuse the issue by adding
To what degree it would impact the equations
If one or more of us had poor blood circulation.
Mathematics is a strange science when you know
Only fractions dealing with phantasms.
And it seems it’s best to know half truths
While we make up and live the other halves,
Trying to explain the opposites of duality.
~~~
Alex Nodopaka Mar©2009
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Alex Nodopaka
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-mystery-of-duality/
