the calculus of you
By Aaron Abeyta, Antonito, CO
a balloon is rising at the rate of 5ft/s
a boy is cycling along a straight road at a speed of 15ft/s
when he passes under the balloon it is 45 ft above him
how fast is the distance between the balloon
and the boy increasing 3 seconds later
something inside of me says to solve for X
where X is the distance
between the boy and the balloon
and i am the boy and you are
the balloon and therefore Y
i must set both to 0 because i
am looking for something 3 seconds
from now like a moment after you
turn away but before the perpetuity
of the instant before you leave
i wonder stupid things
like what color is my bike
and of course it matters
what season we are in because
i somehow love you more in spring
yes the road is straight
but is it paved
i know it can’t be
because our love is old and sometimes
i compare it to the moon
in short there are too
many variables to the
way i love you so
i wonder is this really
a love poem
you after all are ascending away
from me at a rate which has been
determined to be 5 ft/sec and therefore
15 feet further away 3 seconds
after i began chasing you
me i’m traveling at 15 ft/sec
which means i am moving
faster than you which
insures that this is
in fact a love poem
because i’ve also
read about the horizon
and something forgiving
inside of me also whispers
gravity
this is just another
way for me to say
that i love you
and though it is longing now
i ride i ride
i ride so that i
will hold you
somewhere in a spring field
whose specks of green
are barely visible
but this doesn’t answer
how fast the distance between
the boy and the balloon is increasing
so i remind myself of the horizon
of gravity of how much i love you
so that my love becomes
something like this where
distance is called D
though D is temporary
and because this is still calculus
we divide the temporary by how
fast i am pedaling and factor in
the rotation of the earth
and i love the earth too because it
makes what i am about to say possible
the distance of the balloon
multiplied by spring divided by
the dirt road factored into
the earth’s spinning which is 800 mph
because i’m not at the equator
is just another way of
saying that i am riding my bike
because i love you
and in case you care i’ve made my heart
into a metronome to pace my pedaling
i know my professor will mark this wrong
but by my calculations
you the balloon and me
the boy are not getting
further apart
in fact i’ve determined that you
will enter into my arms
at pt Z in exactly
the time it takes for me
to pedal there
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