By the Number

[71degrees]

When glass breaks, crack strands move
at speeds up to 3,000 miles per hour

If untouched, seventy percent of a birth
mark will gradually fade away

Father’s dentures in the clear ceramic glass
on his nightstand terrified me

The human eye will blink over four million times
in one year

Death had my father’s attention three years
before he knew it was even possible

In 1967, all the glossy magazines at Ron’s shop
had pictures of smiling, naked women

While Lisa lay dying, father tore like a mad dog
looking for a priest

Four siblings can sleep easier in a small house
than five

Al the butcher always wrapped our cut meat
in the previous week’s newspaper

Sunlight takes 492 seconds to travel 93 million miles;
At times, it just seems faster

At the hospital, my sister was by mother’s side for days;
she stepped out for one phone call and mother died

A Staten Island woman told me in the days following 9/11
pets barked in empty apartments for days

I have loved my wife for 11,315 evenings; even more
those mornings when we were easily distracted