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.
Current Issue
16 Dec 2024

Across the train tracks from BWI station, a portal shimmered in the shade of a patch of tall trees. From her seat on a northbound train taking on passengers, Dottie watched a woman slip a note out of her pocket, place it under a rock, strip off her work uniform, then walk naked, smiling, into the portal.
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In this episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with Vivian (Xiao Wen) Li to discuss her foray into poetry, screenwriting, music composition and more, and also presents a reading of her two poems published in 2022, 'Ave Maria' and 'The Mezzanine'.
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Podcast read by: Claire McNerney
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Issue 21 Oct 2024
By: KT Bryski
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Issue 14 Oct 2024
Issue 7 Oct 2024
By: Christopher Blake
Podcast read by: Emmie Christie
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