*Laurie Kolp Poetry*

Number Sense
by Laurie Kolp

Some say age is just a number
But to a ninety-four-year-old
Age is the harsh, true reality that
Death is near and frighteningly cold

“Don’t worry what the scale says,”
The nurse tells the patient
But to an anorexic or bulimic
Weight can create great lament

The hurried housewife enters forty
When she actually spent four hundred
And wonders why checks start bouncing
Facing her angry husband with dread

A teacher instructs her students
“Open your book to page sixty-nine”
But to the struggling dyslexic
Ninety-six would be just fine

Numbers are all around us
Important in every way
But remember these scenarios
Before ruining someone’s day.