Jennifer Poteet lives in Montclair, NJ and works in NYC as a fundraiser for public television. Her poems have been published in many online and print journals.  This is her first chapbook. 

Numbers Game



She handed me her phone number

and a poem.

Two pieces of paper.

I unfolded one of the pieces

on the street and read it.

It had a lyric ring.

The phone number, not the poem.

I didn’t read the poem until later, in bed.

It was about numerology,

which I know zero about

plus she had misspelled numerology

three times.

Still, it was nice

to be given a verse

by someone with a pretty smile

on a Wednesday afternoon

as I got off the downtown #9.

I tried to call her several times

although she hadn’t written down her name.

The phone was always busy.

There are patterns, you know,

that push buttons make.

They play a little melody, too

if you’re lucky enough to get the numbers right.