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beginning with zero
by Betania TeschZero is a number,
he says.
Yes, she admits,
but not a whole number.
And I think
it's not so much a number
as the idea of a number,
a gaping, round mouth,
open and hungry,
a goose egg
a warm knowledge stirring within
on the verge of being hatched
into a little one.
No, he insists,
zero is the first number.
Well, she replies,
it does come before the other numbers.
And I think
zero is the possibility,
an oval ova
waiting for fertilization,
a bodiless theory
whose strength comes from
the believers,
the necessary nothing
that evolves into something
with the collision of
zero-shaped nuclei.
Zero is not a number.
It is the numbers' god,
that which existed before
they could be imagined,
the father-mother animal
possessing naught but instincts,
knowing only the singular desire
to create. 01/14/2003 Author's Note: from my 7 year old brother...in his infinite wisdom.
Posted on 01/14/2003
Copyright © 2025 Betania Tesch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Bethany Lee on 01/15/03 at 10:50 PM first comes..."it's not so much a number
as the idea of a number," and i nod my head in agreement. then last but not least arrives..."Zero is not a number.
It is the numbers' god,
that which existed before
they could be imagined,
the father-mother animal
possessing naught but instincts,
knowing only the singular desire
to create." and my body leaps into the air, and i am elated! lovely, dear.
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| Posted by Glenn Currier on 02/03/03 at 05:44 PM Brilliant, Bethany. You god you... creating something quite beautiful from nothing. You demonstrate the possibilities in poetry. Zero... half of the digital age. |
| Posted by Agnes Eva on 04/06/03 at 04:50 AM a delight for closet math lovers! you certainly let the chicken know he wasn't first |
| Posted by Ashok Sharda on 05/08/03 at 01:18 AM Yes,'a warm knowledge stirring within
on the verge of being hatched'. Zero is NOTHING from where emerges a thing called SOMETHING.IT IS always pregnant with WHAT SHOULD BE. |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 05/08/03 at 01:54 PM A most singular poetic commentary on the zero. God did create out of nothing. Congratulations on POTD. |
| Posted by Anita Mac on 05/09/03 at 02:47 AM Wonderful. I tend to agree with her. |
| Posted by Aaron Howard on 06/27/03 at 09:01 AM I love this.. I love the point it proves in it's optimisim.. great work! |
| Posted by Jolie Jordan on 08/27/03 at 03:08 AM This is quite a interesting perspective, I like it.. I like it alot. |
| Posted by Laura Doom on 05/28/07 at 06:03 PM 2003 must have been a vintage year - another from the 'most read' list - nothing surpasses it...well, you know what I'm saying :) |
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