Combinatorics
Likes to pose problems
As colors on maps
With certain constraints.
Yes, this is a game,
Packing coloring,
And, as with all games,
It’s arbitrary,
Seen from some angles,
Revelatory
Of the way things are,
Seen from another.
Did you know you can
Tile infinity
With a finite set
Of numbers?
Did you know you can
Keep any numbers
From touching themselves
For infinite tiles?
The secret answer
Is fifteen. Fifteen
Will suffice to tile
An infinite grid.
Well, so? Twenty-six
Letters are enough
To tile English words,
Code the whole language.
But are they enough
To code the whole mind
Wandering around
Like a lost pilgrim
In all that language?
Computing won’t help
Here—algorithms
Can’t get real traction.
Birds discuss being
Birds that sing. Yama
Rolls his smoky eyes.
Hillsides of orchids
Extend to the dead.
You can’t calculate
All the things you sign.
But fifteen will tile
The world of the mind.
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