Famous Numbers and Then There’s Me

by Edward D. Nudelman

Avogadro’s number, sand and stars, buttons

on the universe’s dark coat.  Pi’s repeating infinitum

crafting a new language based on a circle argument.

Planck and Einstein, big C and little h, humongous

constants standing singularly over all the others.

Schrodinger’s deep equation with Hamiltonian operator

making good practice for P-Chem majors at exam time.

And the Googol, a duotrigintillion, ten thousand sexdecillion

on the long scale, or ten sexdecilliard on the Peletier scale.

At night I close my eyes and the numbers dissolve.

I see angel hairs splitting the wind and seraphim radiant

with joy moving the sun across the sky.  I see unnumbered

rays from portents of darkness and ominous rims.

Edward Nudelman’s first full-length book, What Looks Like an Elephant was published in 2011 by Lummox Press and received the Second Place Award for the Indie Lit Book of the Year in Poetry.  Night Fires (2009, Pudding House) was a semifinalist for the Journal Award. His work has appeared in Valparaiso Review, Chiron Review, Poets and Artists, Ampersand, Syntax, The Atlanta Review, Mipoesias, OCHO, Plainsongs, Tears in the Fence, Floating Bridge Press, The Orange Room Review, The Penwood Review, and many other journals.  Edward Nudelman’s poetry has been shortlisted for many prizes, including the Pushcart, Seattle Times and Aesthetica Poetry contests. Nudelman is a noted cancer research biologist and resides in his hometown Seattle with his wife, Susan.