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Arithmetic


1.
Where does the boy end and man begin?

From hurdle runner and high dive lifeguard
to yoga, low to the beach.

50s flat top gives way to bellbottom 60s and
a 70s home overrun with blonde toddlers.

Boot straps to Birkenstocks, and still, that timeless
Methodist collection plate and Golden Rule remain
a wafer in your blood, father.

2.
You tried to teach me arithmetic once and yet,
what we discovered together was a rock and roll song,
a highway where everything got done.

3. 
Think calculus, in thigh high waders against the cold.
Casting out into the sun drench, deducing change

where man ends and the boy begins again.

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