“Numbers” is a poem by Patrick Lusa, age 11. The poem is organized around the numbers 1 through 24. Most (but not all) of the poem’s lines start with a number, and the numbers are connected to the content of the lines. At the start of the poem, it is a (1) winter day at 2 in the morning. The people are asleep, the 4 owls are awake until their 5 a.m. bedtime. The day goes on until the number 12, which is just a period. Then, time passes quickly: 13 days later, it’s no longer winter. People go swimming, kids are in school, runners begin a race. Once again, we skip forward in time: 22 days later, it gets even hotter. Then, a few lines without numbers—and finally, we end just 24 hours from the midnight that came before the start of the poem.
How does this poet play with poetic forms?
Patrick Lusa, the poet who wrote “Numbers,” has created a unique and interesting form. It almost resembles the phone book, or a schedule. The numbers help propel the piece along, and each one shapes it in a different way. You can tell that the numbers aren’t random: they were each carefully placed in the narrative.
4 owls are hooting before they go to sleep at
5 a.m.
This is just about accurate for owls. The line where the owls fall asleep feels very short, and it contrasts to most of the other lines, which are quite long. In some ways, the “5 a.m.” line is as quiet as the dawn it describes—both nocturnal and diurnal creatures are asleep, and everything feels silent.
In poems that establish such a clear pattern, one of the best ways to hold the reader’s interest—and show them what parts to pay attention to the most—is to occasionally break the rhythm. That happens with the owl moment. The next startlingly short line comes just a few lines down:
10 in the morning, there are
11 people driving to lunch at
12.
On previous lines, when a sentence ends, the poet uses a period at the end of the line. But here, the period takes on its own line. As readers, our ears perk up—this line is very different, and there must be a reason. We find out the reason on the next line:
13 days later, there is heat again.
14 people are swimming in the
15-mile lake.
Whoa! When we started this poem, it was winter—and what’s more, each line only stood for an hour. But now that noon has passed, our whole way of orienting around time has shifted. Now, each line represents a day. This continues until line 22, when another rupture in the space-time continuum begins:
22 days later, the heat is getting stronger,
On the 23rd, days are getting longer.
The world seems to turn faster.
The racers run faster.
The light is still putting up a fight.
24 hours after midnight.
On line 23, we first notice the change: 23 doesn’t begin the line, but rather appears a few words in. Then, the writer decides to do away with the organizing principle altogether. For three lines, the “light puts up a fight”—time itself stretches out. The poem clings to the hours and days, perhaps now summer hours and summer days, and will not let them pass. We get lost in a moment that seems to exist outside of time. When the poem finally pulls us back in, the numbers are no longer days but hours once again. We’re also left in a wonderful place of uncertainty, unsure whether a day passed or a season.
Discussion questions:
- Why do you think the writer chose a running race as one of the central images of the poem? What do you think the relationship might be between running a race and the passage of time?
- What were some moments in the poem where the writer built a number into a sentence in a way that surprised you? What made those moments surprising?
Numbers
1 winter day at
2 in the morning there are
3 people sleeping as
4 owls are hooting before they go to sleep at
5 a.m.
6 in the morning and the owls have stopped hooting,
7 birds are chirping as they search for food.
8 dogs are barking,
9 cats are hissing as they fight at
10 in the morning, there are
11 people driving to lunch at
12.
13 days later, there is heat again.
14 people are swimming in the
15-mile lake.
16 cars are driving to exit
17, taking people to work.
18 days have passed now
19 people are in school getting bored to death.
20 people are running the
21-mile race.
22 days later, the heat is getting stronger,
On the 23rd, days are getting longer.
The world seems to turn faster.
The racers run faster.
The light is still putting up a fight.
24 hours after midnight.
Stafford Springs, CT
