Geometry

The immeasurable distance between family members

My father was a square
My mother was a heart.

He listened to jazz while drinking
hot tea sweetened with honey
He pushed his glasses up by sliding
his middle finger over his nose, he
squinted when he didn't understand

her, and she smiled a knowing
and unknowing smile while
mixing cinnamon and whole wheat flour
eggs and sugar, and thinking - what?
a recipe? a great philosophical tract?

Add together their diameters and subtract
The distance between them
The miles upon miles of misunderrstandings.
That is my circumfurence. Add to it
the distance from me to my father: area
from me to my mother: volume.
And all of me is space
And the sum of my parts is my whole.