Pi

by Ethan Stebbins

If I could place a value
on the entire coast of Maine
or account in full
for the people I love
or even approximate
my emotional response
to the rose-breasted grosbeak
or bulbs of roasted garlic
the terms of expression
would never end and never repeat.
Which is not to say
it can’t be done.
There’s a man in China
who knows 67,890
digits of pi.  I love that man.
I love the whole idea
of China.  It’s only
an earth’s diameter away.
Divide the circumference
by that and you get
the human capacity for affection,
which is not rational.
Which is infinite
and hard to put in words.