A Poetry Syllabus
{An Umbrella Special Feature}


Margaret Fieland

lives in the suburbs west of Boston, Massachusetts with her partner and seven dogs.

Her poems, articles and stories have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Main Channel Voices, MO: Writings from the River, and All Rights Reserved.

Born and raised in New York City, Margaret Fieland has been around art and music all her life. Daughter of a painter, mother of three grown sons, she is also an accomplished flute and piccolo player.

In spite of making her living as a computer software engineer, she turned to one of her sons to format the initial version of her website, a clear illustration of the computer generation gap.


—Back to Extra Links—

Inventing Zero

I wonder who invented zero,
a number representing “none.”
Did they hail him as a hero?

Maybe he was drinking beer, so
noticed when the drink was gone,
he needed to invent a zero?

Or did the idea just appear, slow,
thinking of the number one?
And did they hail him as a hero?

Or maybe when his funds got low,
he thought of nothing, just for fun,
and that’s how he invented zero.

You’d have thought they’d cheer and grow
excited, each and everyone,
that they’d hail him as a hero.

But many moons and many suns
have passed, and when all’s said and done,
we don’t know who invented zero,
I don’t think he was hailed a hero.



 
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