Never Encumbered Poem by Deluke Muwanigwa

Never Encumbered.

Arithmomania is a rare condition
A type of obsession with numbers
Counting stuff all the time
And is classified as an obsessive compulsive disorder

I refuse to accept i am a sufferer
Though i seem to see patterns in numbers
Its uncanny how many times
I look at a set of numbers and instantly

My mind tries to find a mathematical relationship.
Am i bad?
Does it make me sad?
Not at all

I feel a rush of adrenaline if a pattern is found
And there are plenty patterns around.
One number being half the other
All numbers in a series being odd numbers

Factors
Squares and their roots
My date of birth in reverse
Some of it is perverse

And it's not just numbers
Even letters
In a certain order even better
Number plates of cars

And anything with letters and digits
Take my Honda CRV for instance
Together we've travelled a long distance
Plate number ACW 5731

Even that one
Three minus one is two
You get the same when seven and five are done too.
Crazy?

No, with numbers i am not lazy
I had a BMW 525 i
The first time the plate met my eye
ACS 2480 i thought the ACS alluded to accelerations
Indeed her acceleration gave me exhilarations.

Two times two is four times two is eight.
You must be saying 'Eish'
'This is one crazy nut'
But for me this all fun.

I gave my son a Honda Fit
He never thanked me for it
Plate number ACK 0925
I was expecting at least a high five

My son did not ACKnowledge.
Lack of etiquette knowledge
Zero manners and the plate numbers being odd.
The two sitting between the nine and five being odd

You could always double the two,
And add to five to get nine too.
I can go on and on and on
These mental calcs i do on my own.

Is this arithmomania?
Can it be cured by erythromycin?
This seems insane
Then again

It's instinctive
Quite distinctive
The added bonus
I also remember numbers humongous.

Twelve digit numbers i remember
Quite easily January to December
My identity number
My wife's

Cell phone numbers by rote
Anything i wrote
Bank accounts
The big amounts.

It's the short ones i forget
And sometimes i regret
Am i alone?
Are you another one?

I will never stop
Probably till i drop
Drop dead
Because it's in my head.

Numbers.
And more numbers.
Never encumbered
Even by letters.

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