Poem 23

Number 23

: Life, the Universe, and Everything

42 is an interesting number. It was the number of hours Juliet slept after drinking her potion. Alice in Wonderland has 42 original illustrations and rule number 42 requires that all mile-high people must leave court immediately. An episode of Doctor Who entitled “42″ is shot in real time and lasts 42 minutes. And, most importantly, Douglas Adams chose the unassuming number as the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything in his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. So let’s try to write some poems based on this little number.

1. Choose one, simple, unassuming word. Fork. Grass. Dog. Chair. Whatever you like. Then write a poem where this one simple word becomes the answer to a difficult problem or question.

2. If you are age 42 or older (I’ll never tell), write a poem about something memorable that happened during that year in your life.

3. Be a modern-day Juliet. Without all the dying. Imagine that you sleep for 42 hours straight. When you wake up, what will you have missed? What part of your life will have passed you by while you slumbered? Use your imagination.

4. Doctor Who can time travel in the Tardis, his spaceship that takes the form of a police box. Write a list poem full of 42 things that you would do if you could time travel.

42 anomalies in time

I am a traveler in time

Facts and fates in the palm of my hand

I am bound by the laws of time

And of course I aim to break the law

Things to do;

I'd tell myself the things I learned about happiness

I'd get a dog

A robot dog

I'd eat more fruit

Play the lotto

Win the lotto

Go to Vegas

Buy Vegas

Tear down Vegas and terraform the desert

Learn how terraform the desert

Never start smoking

Make a plan

Don't follow the plan

Institute solar energy in 1964

Stop 3 mile island

Stop Chernobyl

Stop the cat woman movie

Stop reality television

Stop Miley Cyrus

stop a bullet in Dallas

stop in the name of love before you break my heart

Talk to Kurt Vonnegut

Talk to  J D Salinger

Talk to the animals, but that doesn't count, it's not very timey Wimey

Write some poems

Say thanks to Jimmy Carter

Save a butterfly

Save the rainforest

Save the world

Conquer the world

Did I. Mention that I'd get a dog

Or a pony

Or a masters of the universe cat that changes when I yell "by the power of Grayskull"

Be smart

Smarter than you, anyway

Make good art

Find true love

Get my heart broken repeat that cycle until it ends differently

Go mad

Go mad by Einsteins definition

Tell Einstein what happened

Stop the planes

Stop the hype

Stop and breathe a little bit easier

Sleep