August 2026
Word Problems
by Matt Pasca
If X is born to Bahá’ís perfecting pilaf & prayer in an 80s suburb made of water pistols & beer, what will X call home?
If X’s mystical father swallows X’s mother & eviscerates X’s brother, at what age will X unmute?
Reduce utopia/narcissism to simplest terms
If X’s lived experience = ½ Hubble, ½ wallflower, calculate the volume of his loneliness
If the house on Nims Avenue is Babel & every tongue a 1-year delay, how high will X’s silence tower?
Whereas X is both a group of 1 & the safest, tallest person in every elevator, determine the square root of his privilege
Whereupon X is raised to reject whiteness (because whiteness is a lie & a missile), how often will he misplace the key to his bones?
If there is no standard for X’s deviation, is he nothing?
If you find X’s story inscrutable, will you google Bahá’í Faith or ask X for the algorithm?
As the pendulum locked for 400 years finally & victoriously swings, should X wait for it to include him, seek pendulum prime, or study the grammar of trees?
Given X’s heart is a polynomial, find a world his asymptote will someday touch
If home is only a legal pad, an airport, her morning chest, find the quotient of X’s solitude
Whereas X was built as an exit ramp, find his probability of forward motion