I am the Rubik’s Cube where the colors never
aligned; the Sudoku with only odd numbers.
I spoke in metaphors and hyperbole. You
translated into binary code and algebraic equations.
You spoke in pie charts and bar graphs while I sought
emotion and stories.

I realize now that I should have stopped you. I always
knew that humans are meant to be held, not solved;
but I rested too long in the solace of your efforts.
It left a hollow space after you decided
the solution was too elusive for your time.

You tried inserting the Quadratic and Pythagorean
but there was always some part of me that could not
fit. Finally, you threw down the pencil and gave up.

So I remain the word problem you couldn’t solve;
the algorithm with too many variables, where
x plus y never really equaled
anything at all.

Alexa Reed
3.14.13