Alphabet City

So, how many people are there on the planet?
A quick search reveals there are five
point five billion.

With my handy pocket calculator,
powered by the sun, by the way,
I figure this is two to the thirty-
second power,
give or take a power.

I record my voice, I hum an A, four hundred
forty Hertz,
pure tone that I bounce to a second
track, so now there’s two of me.

I repeat, there’s four of me, again, there’s eight, for
thirty two times, give or take
a power, until
I achieve a chorus of me,
numbering five
point five billion.

I sit there under headphones,
in perfect surround sound,
the volume turned way up.

I am all that there is.

© Carlos Chagall, 2013