negative b
plus or minus the square root of nobody
ever used eighth-grade algebra to find
love or beauty in a storm
but this spinning world is full
of unknowns and inequalities
poverty curves and inflection points
cotangent of a rainbow
radius of a door slamming shut

if the x-axis is melanin and y equals fear
plot the curve that separates
hooded teen from bullet

if n is the number of students
crossing the graduation river
at illiterate words per hour
and z is the cost of a prison bed
how many words does a politician need
so fifty-one percent of voters
sleep well at night