number three

sleeping while accounting.

what stars
what tremble in the right eye
what carbonation flickering lids--

wonder where still 5 and 7 are 12,
where minus a negative
means plus positive

and a shaky blue pen writes 24,719.
i can't even do this awake.
but through falling eyelashes can count

without fingers, the numbers all reporting,
suddenly visual. even the 700
letter b's falling from

an unstiffened thumb are changeable.
i get the problem right,
as if by magic.