Math and Poetry

In fifth grade,
I was so perplexed by New Math
I would take a piece of chalk
and write imaginary mathematical formulas
on the playground blacktop;
large numbers that were seemingly multiplied
by other large numbers, of
reduced by long division.
Plus, minus, addition and subtraction,
I made it all up in foot-tall figures.
My peers avoided me.
My teacher called my parents.
My parents smiled at me, and
spent more time with me on my math homework.
I never really did understand New Math.
It wasn't until the next year
that i was asked to write a poem in class,
and I realized I needed more chalk.