Poet Jane Hirschfield weaves words into fine tapestries that give us new dimensions of meaning. The Table of Contents of her new book, The Beauty (Knopf, 2015), is scattered with mathematical terms -- we find zero, plus, subtraction, and the final title, "Like Two Negative Numbers Multiplied by Rain." This poem first appeared in Poetry (2012) and is available at the Poetry Foundation website along with more than thirty additional Hirshfield poems.
Like Two Negative Numbers Multiplied by Rain b
Lie down, you are horizontal.
Stand up, you are not.