Cheesy math geek love poem

In a recent class we read a poem about lines, or at least partly about lines (http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/005.html). This was in a class of pre-reading stuff for the Thomas King story ‘Borders’ (http://faculty.law.ubc.ca/myoung/constitution/images/Thomas%20King%20Borders.pdf). Before reading the poem they talked about lines and we had an interesting discussion on the subject, then we read the poem. There was some overlap between the talk and the poem discussion and some different opinions as to the quality of the poem. Some thought it was cheesy, a math geek love poem, others said they like cheese as long as it isn’t too strong, a mild blue is probably pushing it.

Next up was writing about lines, wherever that took you, and it took them to a variety of places, it took me here:

Lines

We followed lines on the road to the ferry,

waited in line between two lines to board,

were directed to a line of cars on the car deck.

In the cafeteria we waited in line while the ferry

crossed lines of latitude.

We drove the long line across Northern B.C.

over the border line into Alberta.

At the airport we waited in line

so authorities could pat down Gus’s Teddy.

In the air we crossed lines, and lines, and lines,

latitude, and longitude,

rivers, coasts, property, provincial, international.

In a new place, new lines,

the bike paths to the station where railway lines arrive/depart,

the bus line to work,

lines on maps to learn where we are.

Our thoughts and memories are lines to home, to friends, to family

new lines will rejoin old lines, we retrace lines

back to friends,

back to family,

back home.

As I explained to the students I am not as homesick as that sounds, I wanted to write about the lines of travel, the lines involved in a journey. I did not intend to write lines that would be at home in a Hallmark, lines evoking a not so mild blue.