Reviewing Geometry for the GRE: First Lesson

       As if you could find exactly
       the base of a triangle–
       one long, unsure line.

       I am looking for an exit
       sign pointing, pointing, pointing.
       Outside that red door

       wilts confused leaves.
       You say there’s a way
       to quantify this? That

       equations explain everything?
       It’s 30 degrees today,
       90 yesterday.

       What’s autumn’s angle?
       A 180-degree spin.
       Math. I don’t trust it.

       How Catholic school
       assured me the trinity
       would save me.

       I’ll learn whatever
       to warm myself.

James Croal Jackson is the author of The Frayed Edge of Memory (Writing Knights Press, 2017). His poetry has appeared in Columbia Journal, Hobart, FLAPPERHOUSE, and elsewhere. He edits The Mantle from Columbus, Ohio. WEB
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