Size / / /

f(love) = 0

The function of love is undefined.

f(love) = 0

impossible, infinitely uncertain result:

if circumstances were different

what would be the second spatial coordinate

that is a function of love?

but the function is fixed:

circumstances define

the hand that draws the line

Forward, backward, what will make it work?

f'(love) = 0

the quality of a nonexistent

is less than zero

what is the slope, the rise and run

of the function that dooms me?

this love has no degree

no rate of movement

by the definition of love,

undefined in an impossible f'(x).

∫f'(love)dlove = 0

area under an impossible function

if time could flow backwards,

what would be the length, depth, and height

of the product of our love?

but the product is nonexistent:

an area of undefined space,

like a black hole

Forward, backward, what will make it work?

dlove = ln love

I have never been good at math,

but here is a loophole:

how could I have missed Newton's trick

to finding area where none used to exist?

Love is like an alchemist's salamander,

fireproof, slippery, fluid in the darkness;

but wearing a coat of improbable logs

I can capture fire.




Monica Eiland lives in the Boston area with her husband and two sons. She has a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. A medical writer by trade, she has published short fiction in Forbidden Lines and Shimmer and is a graduate of Viable Paradise Year 10.
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