Save one
the earliest are numberless
the last
statuesque with foreboding
easy the talk of firsts
first love first solo first child
less so cavernous lasts
last lovemaking, last conversation with a father
days that last
slow delicious
excruciating days
with stubborn threes
& smooth easy days
with ones and sevens
days remembered so fondly
that the numbers have worn off
days to study numerology
& days to let doomsdays drift
accountant days of peerless poverty
& days of worrisome wealth
round days edgeless
with seamless adjacency
days rounded up & oversimplified
estimated days uncomprehended
days that cannot be added together
that jar & scratch with different denominations
days whose numbers gladly faded
from precise days of woe begotten
broken days
that still get a number
days that cannot be skipped
days that should have been
days whose number is up
days whose expression is down
days that skip & fly
on which numbers barely stick
hot & sticky days in which
the numbers ooze from terra cotta walls
days expressed in probabilities
days that count for a thousand
days someone stole
& added to their private cache
days marked with keepsakes
heaped in hoarder holds
Days a better numberer than I
in this solemn counter’s chore
would not hope for something larger
than the sum of these parts
5 May 2012