Completing the Square

Robert Ronnow
The Imaginary i

Completing the Square

Good morning Abrianna. How are you today?
How was your weekend, do anything special?
Read a book or see a good movie?
What tv shows are you watching these days?
Not much tv, mostly facebook and instagram.
How many friends or followers do you have?
Wow, that must keep you busy!
What’s the main topic of conversation these days? (Not Ukraine, I bet.)
I myself start each day catching up on the war.
Maybe I should pray but I don’t. Hardly anyone prays anymore.

What subject do you want to study today?
Math, English language arts, biology, history, you name it.
Did you like that poem Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou?
Just alright. OK, but I have a homework assignment for you, should you choose to accept:
Memorize Phenomenal Woman to recite out loud.
You’ll memorize it little by little, line by line, taking your time, I’ll show you how.
It may seem a tedious and irrelevant task but it could change your life.
OK maybe not but you’ll feel good about the accomplishment.
It may become a touchstone to ground you when things get tough.
In that sense poems are like prayers (or friends).

Anyway, today you want to do math. Graphing quadratic equations. Let’s begin.