Numbering of Days

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