99.99/100 by Maude Larke

When 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999% of me
says “it can never be”
and this one fragment of a nail paring

of a sliver of a % says “but . . . ”

Is it best to root out the sliver?
How is it best to root out the sliver?
Who is best to root out the sliver?

And will that return the whole?

100

You are an exhaustion of questions
but I am adamantly empty of answers.
My eyes are eternally lowered
and street corners are for flinching.

And who can say that there ever was a whole?

Find a way to sweep the parings.

Make it so.