Numbers
Numbers make sense to me,
they always have
Solve for Z
Solve for X
Solve for Y
With numbers there is always a solution,
an answer,
a clear right
and wrong,
an obvious black
and white
Black and white
questions
on black and white
paper
with black and white
answers
and no
why,
or if,
or how,
because there are no uncertainties
With numbers,
everything is absolute
There’s no room to debate,
because to debate
is to wonder,
and there is no wondering with numbers,
there is only solving
Solve for Z
Solve for X
Solve for Y
Y, y, why
is what I find myself asking in my life
Why is my mom manipulative?
Why did my father get cancer?
Why am I writing,
why am I wondering,
why am I here, and
why do I even ask?
Because there is no answer
In life, there is no answer
It’s all irrational numbers
and unknown variables
and no way to solve
for Y
I can’t add a father back into my life
but I can add percentages
I can’t solve the problem of my life
but I can solve equations
Solve for Z
Solve for X
Solve for Y
After all, who wouldn’t rather
fractions over fractures?
One number on top of the other
over cracks in a mirror
that’s supposed to reflect yourself
But instead, reflects
chocolate-brown eyes
stolen from a father
whose life was stolen away
But instead, reflects
a face tearstained
and swollen,
a weak child
you don’t even recognize
But instead, reflects
bits and pieces
of a broken daughter,
a lost little girl
Who wouldn’t rather
counting over cancer?
Or algebra over anxiety?
Numbers work
Life doesn’t
Solve for Y
Adilyah Taller has loved writing and reading from a young age, using 26 letters strung together in different formations to create worlds and ideas. As you can see in this poem, she also loves math, as well as music. When she’s not writing amazing poetry, she’s normally reading or playing piano, trying to soak up the most of life.