Seven

[just mercedes]

 
 
Lucky for some. Seven days of the week,
brides for brothers. Seven eleven,
store chain named for opening hours.
 
A prime number; can’t be divided evenly.
If I were a cat I’d live with safety in mind,
at life number seven.
 
Seven seas, to sail on. Seven deadly sins.
Do I know them? Greed, sloth, envy, pride,
lust, gluttony – how is that different from greed?
Is boredom a sin? Maybe I’ll do better at seas –
Atlantic, Pacific, North, Arctic, Red, Dead, Black –
but I don’t know if oceans count.
 
Seven holes in the head; two eyes, two nostrils,
two ears, one mouth. Seven days of creation.
And rest on the seventh. Seven days the Jewish
sit in mourning; shiva is their number seven.
 
Seven virtues, seven vices – nice balance there.
Seventy times seven, we are told to forgive sins.
Seven objects in the sky – sun and moon, Earth,
Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Pluto is no longer
a planet, had its seven days of celebrity.
 
On a dice, the numbers on the opposite faces
always add to seven. Maybe that’s why gamblers
see it as a lucky number. My nephew bought a set
of dice so we could play Yahtzee when they visited
and it rained so we couldn’t ski. No-one else noticed
that the numbers were wrongly set out on the dice,
but he did. They don’t add up to seven, he said,
and wouldn’t play with them. Would the toss
be wrong, the luck be gone, with numbers
in the wrong places?
 

[dukealien]

Very good exploration of the number.  Does being prime mean integrity, or standoffishness?

Mysterious, usually in a good way... six was too easy, divides by too much.  Same with eight.

The dice observation is fascinating - where did you get non-standard cubic dice?  Not having faces add to seven *might* mean all the numbers aren't there (like the "joke" dice that always roll sevens - one has only 3s, the other only 4s).

Like it.

[just mercedes]

Thanks! The non-standard cubes were, of course, 'Made in China'.

[nibbed]

Amazing poem.
I didn't know about 7-11 stores,
why they were named that.
I want to read this over and over.
It's fun.
I like 7s, too!
How do you write so many good poems
consistently? You are a poem factory!

[just mercedes]

I'm serious about writing! I write something every day, and read a lot when I'm not writing. I do have fun, too.

[CRNDLSM]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens. Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

[just mercedes]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

[dukealien]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

Beg to differ:  since we are not told, isn't it possible the "meeting" took place as the narrator overtook the catty menage?

[just mercedes]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

Beg to differ:  since we are not told, isn't it possible the "meeting" took place as the narrator overtook the catty menage?

Only one person was going to Saint Ives. If he or she crossed the path of the sevenwives, then the kittens, cats, sacks, and wives were all going in a different direction! (If everyone was going in the same direction, however, the answer would be 2,801 ? 7 wives, 49 sacks, 343 cats, and 2,401 kittens equal 2,800.

How Many Were Going to Saint Ives? - Brain Boosters

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Even that explanation leaves out the narrator, though.

[Szczepan]

Reminds me of a riddle

As I was going to st. Ives I met a man with seven wives.
Seven wives had seven sacks, seven sacks had seven cats,
Seven cats had seven kittens.  Kittens cats sacks wives,
How many were going to st. Ives?

I'd forgotten that one! Thanks. (of course there was only one)

Beg to differ:  since we are not told, isn't it possible the "meeting" took place as the narrator overtook the catty menage?

Have always thought the same thing. People miss this possibility. You could have merely been going faster than the man, wives, kits, cats, etc. And that's how you met them ... maybe even at a rest area.