Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Unbuttered” by Dagne Forrest.

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Unbuttered

By Dagne Forrest

The Hungarian mathematician

Paul Erdös wasted no time,

dispensed with niceties. Each

letter or note began this way.

“I am in Australia.

Tomorrow I leave

for Hungary. Let K

be the largest integer…”

A mathematical nomad, he’d

awaken his revolving hosts —

mischievous child, declaring his

mind open, problems to solve.

Expecting his bread to be

buttered for him while he

devoted the entirety of his

consciousness to mathematics.

What if I — mother, partner,

workhorse, household

glue and scaffolding –

were to simply write:

“We’re out of butter. Don’t

forget your homework. Let K

be the absolute minimum of

peace and quiet needed to…”

(Even the cats creeping round

every time I grab the tin opener

make it impossible for lunch

to be a time for the quiet idea.)

Let the unwashed dishes stand

for the uncharted landscape I’ve

made my destination now. Let

the unpaid bills drift crisply

into an impassable stasis. Let

unanswered texts and calls

become the discordant music of

a fast retreating universe, the

constant accretion of trivial

tasks the snowy static on the dial.

The notebooks piled at my feet

a signal — my mind open to

something I need to explore

without interruption. Let this

be something I never have to explain,

along with this unbuttered bread.

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Copyright © Dagne Forrest

Previously published in K’in Literary Journal.

Dagne Forrest has recent work forthcoming or appearing in The Inflectionist Review, Pinhole Poetry, The New Quarterly, december magazine, Unlost, and On the Seawall. She belongs to Painted Bride Quarterly’s senior editorial and podcast teams. Her debut chapbook will be published by Baseline Press in spring 2025.

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