Ann E. Michael

Depth Cognition in a Rainy Season

Mathematics, beyond the functions of division
or addition, operates as more than
anhydrous warehouses in a Hong Kong slum.

Calculus is the Distelfink on a stranger’s barn.

As for trigonometry, Saturn’s silent limpets
triangulate the cosmos fractally

while universal quantum mechanics
accomplishes unacknowledged tasks,
not unlike Shelley’s legislators of the world.

Listen: the brown crickets are singing
as if they could sing.

Next we will explore chemistry, hormones,
exoskeletons. The remontancy of honeysuckle.
The querulous aspect of dry facts

during the annual monsoon.

Ann E. Michael's second book, The Red Queen Hypothesis, will appear later in 2023. She is the author of six chapbooks and a previous collection, Water-Rites; her work has appeared online and in print during the past couple of decades. She has resided in eastern PA for many years and blogs at www.annemichael.blog.