About this book:
The title, Sum : 1 rhymes with someone but is not meant as a pun.
This book of poems addresses the humane concern of treating each
person as a unique and valuable Someone, where the bolding
of the word and its capital S is not ignored or discounted.
The sum of all of us, one by one, should be one, and yet in this
country which promises liberty and justice for all, we know about
the removal of so many from this “all”.
A PDF with 27 of the poems illustrated by images which inspired
them is available on the FootHills website (www.foothillspublishing.com/2021/jospe.html) or by contacting the
author: kjospe@gmail.com. Voluntary donations can be made to
East House, Rochester, NY. https://easthouse.org. East House
helps move lives forward by providing stable housing and support
services to individuals with persistent mental health and/or
substance use disorders.
this poem captures the spirit of the book.
Sum : 1/Some : One
What is the product of one times one?
We forget sometimes how one multiplies—
how it gently mirrors the other to allow
the other…
1X2 has no one reflected but two in the end.
Some is only so many…
but turn it to,
beforein—
before
before the second meaning of quotient—
as characteristic.
Any
one
complexity
at its most irresponsible best.
It could be you, me, or all those hoping
like us, the bomb won’t drop
on us, on those close to us,
those hoping whatever ship sails in
doesn’t fool us with its colors.
—Kitty Jospé
written and performed in July, 2020, Rochester, NY
