Californian Brenda Hillman is a poet whose work I like and admire. In "Time Problem" she weaves prime numbers into a deft description of the dilemma of not enough time.
Time Problem by Brenda Hillman
The problem
of time. Of there not being
enough of it.
My girl came to the study
and said Help me;
I told her I had a time problem
which meant:
I would die for you but I don’t have ten minutes.
Numbers hung in the math book
like motel coathangers. The Lean
Cuisine was burning
like an ancient city: black at the edges,
bubbly earth tones in the center.
The latest thing they’re saying is lack
of time might be
a “woman’s problem.” She sat there
with her math book sobbing—
(turned out to be prime factoring: whole numbers
dangle in little nooses)
Hawking says if you back up far enough
it’s not even
an issue, time falls away into
'the curve' which is finite,
boundaryless. Appointment book,
soprano telephone—
(beep End beep went the microwave)
. . .
Read the rest of Hillman's poem here at PoetryFoundation.org -- and proceed to the fourth dimension.
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