Michael Meyerhofer
Common Denominators
Then one day, years after the absurdity
of clothing, they stuck us in painted desks
and taught us that if you want to solve
a riddle the length of your father’s neckties,
start by taking a hatchet to anything
shared by both sides of the equals sign,
as though nothing matters once repeated.
Later, we noticed names recurring
like seasons or wedding vows, the font
on gravestones, the years we waste
confounding atoms for bricks and not
shards whose cracks we wear like rivers.
About the writer:
Michael Meyerhofer‘s fifth poetry book, Ragged Eden, was published by Glass Lyre Press. He has been the recipient of the James Wright Poetry Award, the Liam Rector First Book Award, the Brick Road Poetry Book Prize, and other honors. His work has appeared in many journals including Hayden’s Ferry, Rattle, Brevity, Tupelo Quarterly, and Ploughshares. He is also the author of a fantasy series and the Poetry Editor of Atticus Review.
Image: The Way Everlasting by Marianne von Werefkin (1860-1938). No medium specified. No size specified. By 1939. Public domain.
