Rigdon – Take A Number

[Jerry sent me this poem when he realized you can’t buy an apple without a sticker.]

Take a Number – by Jerry Rigdon

The national debt

and apple sales,

highway miles and

cosmic years

all see light

in numbers.

Best-seller books,

billionaires, sea sand

and head hairs

cannot disregard

this numbered power

in computation.

Did God forget

to mark the fall of

one, only one

remaining dusty

seaside sparrow?

Spotted owls, Ivory

bills, snow, leopards

and sperm count

whales are now numbered,

tagged, and named

Waiting,

like you, for their

own extinction.

So the number set

that really counts

is how many

dances left on your

dance card.

Reckon it, compute it,

but download sums fun.

Frolic in fractal time,

string memories

and dance.

Just lose that number,

it takes forever to get

an extension.