One Two Three Four

You know when the band counts time before the song?

One

How I hate being stirred.

One

Arvo Pärt says “One plus one, it is one - it is not two. This is the secret of this technique.”

One

But I am stirred.

Two

There does seem to be some technique to it.

One

Who looks first?

Two

The eyes pan horizontally over to mine.

Three

Eyes see eyes seeing eyes seeing

One

some amusement there.

Two

“Where he sees one or two ‘triads,’” Jacques Derrida doggedly lectures, “there is always a supplementary square whose opening complicates the computation.”

Three

You only see what you wish, the psychoanalysts remind us.

Four

The eyes roll back:

O’Clock Rock

how boring.

We’re Gonna Rock

Around

The Clock

Tonight

Author's Note

I think there's a less trite poem that could come out of this mathematical arrangement and these quotations, but I needed to write this first to get started.