I’m a poet
But not just a regular poet
I’m a poet that’s horrible at math
Seriously, it took me forever to even add
I just didn’t understand how numbers got together
They couldn’t walk or talk, so how did they join
My elementary teachers marked me as annoying
0 * 1 equaled 1 for the longest
But 0 + 0 was my strongest
Expression or equation
Whatever
My vocabulary was never really together
Geometry scared me in my sleep
What does a poet have to do with an isosceles…?
Triangle
Acute, right, or obtuse
What’s the use?
And algebra
O algebra
Algebra was like my period
But it gave me cramps in my mind
How could numbers be combined
With letters
They were never in the alphabet, when did they decide to pop up
I just gave up
Had the world gone mad
My report card, was all bad
N was my grade, you know for needs improvement
But why cause a poet would never use it!
And then you left
And it motivated me more than ever
My vocabulary got together
It was on point; I used it in everyday conversing
Fractions, I was reversing
Polynomials, a piece of cake
Pythagorean Theorem, I cut that bad boy like a tender piece of steak
All because you left
Math is no longer foreign to me
Because I was determined to be…smart
And turn that N into an excellent E
Me
And I did it, I’m a math geek
Loud and proud baby
I even got you down to an equation
Rather simple, I might add
And it explains why I was so horrible at math
If you add your appearances and subtract them by your walk aways
There would be nothing on your paper
If you multiply that by
The times you called
You’d have nothing at all
Don’t even divide because you would end up with negatives galore
And all the nonsense conversations you made before
Talking about you loved us but couldn’t handle my mama
You said you cared for us, but couldn’t put up with her drama
Truth is she couldn’t handle you
Your addiction
To W.W.W.
No not a website
Worthless Wreckless Women on the side
Your passion for those
You left us for heffas
You do the math, you put it together
Starting out, I was awful at math
But it’s easy to put together nothing
But this is my thank you letter
I really appreciate you walking away
And turning your face
I forgive your stupidity
You sum up to zero to me
But I have learned so much from that number
See you have shown me your failure and I do not want to be another
Another waste of air, just sitting there
See you are supposed to be a human being
Yet you are only a human that cannot be
Anything
Not even a number
See you have shown me your failure and I will not be another
I may be your child but I will never be a replica of you
Not an imitation
Or duplication
Not anything that represents you
See when I have children they will be great at math
Because I will give them something to add
Algebra, trigonometry, and calculus too
They will have to learn it all…
Because I refuse
To be a zero…
I refuse to be anything like you
So I thank you for teaching me opposite tactics
I have learned so much and I’ve come to love mathematics.