by Carmen Mason
Pythagoras lived when kids
didn’t wield box cutters and guns
or stand on lines for free condoms
missing class
when fuck-you shirts weren’t even
dreamed of by
lovehaters and childhaters
When homework wasn’t necessary because
each moment was an assignment for life
He lived when the parts still equalled the whole
and the whole was a holy thing
He then Empedocles and later
Euclid believed the
world and all its matter mattered
and Pythagoras suggested that if you don’t get it right
you can come back and try again
in Samos or some other place and
body-state say a fish or a goat
or a flea or Shanghai
To be brief Pythy
opposed the taking of life
the eating of flesh or anyone who killed
or prepared animals for diet
So I think all these drive-by shooters
babyburners peoplerapers
mindmarauders ethnictrashers
racelashers fuckshirt peddlers
drug and craprap hustlers
should die just die then come back and try again
I’ve been writing prose and poetry since I was six. Won the Ist prize in Seventeen Magazine’s short story contest at 17 and several poetry prizes through the years. I write because I cannot help myself. I write to empty out the thoughts I cannot hold inside a day or hour more.