PRACTICING EIGHTS
After I almost died, it was hard
to make 5s, and I couldn’t make 8s.
In the force 8 wind, the leaves
became little sails, uprooting their tree.
And so I practiced: 5 5 5, then shaky
8 8 8, all the way down the page.
Of course they traded eights:
they were playing blues.
Until the 10th century, the Perso-
Arabic 8 resembled our 5.
Each of the eight octopus arms is a brain
that can “taste-touch” and sense light.
Then that figure got looped around:
you can start with a 5 and make an 8!
Buddha gave us the eight-fold path,
Jesus eight beatitudes. Blessed is the 8.
