This feature, chosen by Guest Editor Ezra Fox, is from transfinity by Joey Gould (Lambhouse Books 2026).
gematria
What lovely theory: math
as a madman, dancing nancy.
Pythagoras had a cult about it
but like modern math, ascetic.
So many people hate math
or simply aren’t very precise
so their sums would be
spooky, their maths full of moons
over a harvest threshing.
o it’s a superstish, babe, we’d say
nowadays. But go back to dark,
when our fore-fore-fores made
the first number, a spell to count
the days until rain. People mapped
the fucking stars. You’re so new
+ spoiled. They mapped the stars!
Whoever figured that out
deserved the attention. There
was a line out the door,
people waiting for someone
to reassure their safe harvest.
If the star-person kissed them
it was the talk of the town.
Did the kabbalist see numbers
in your eyes, + which?
Joey Gould (they/them), who served as Sundress Academy for the Arts Spring 2024 Writer in Residence, wrote transfinity (2026, Lambhouse), The Acute Avian Heart (2019, Lily Poetry Review) & Penitent > Arbiter (2022, Lily Poetry Review). Their recent work appears in Meow Meow Pow Pow, Memezine, and Defunkt Magazine’s Surreal Confessional Anthology.
Ezra Fox (they/he) is a Best of the Net nominee who lives and writes in San Francisco, CA and holds an MFA from Indiana University. A Breadloaf, Tin House, and Lambda Literary Fellow, and recipient of the Lili Elbe Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes transgender writers of exceptional promise, their work appears or is forthcoming in TriQuarterly, The Pinch, Fourteen Hills, Interim, and elsewhere. Additionally, they won the 2025 West Trade Review Poetry Prize, and currently serve as assistant judge of the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. Apart from writing, Ezra maintains a daily practice of reconnecting with their inner child: roller-skating, playing drums, and enjoying animated films and theme parks. In quieter moments, they can be found sharing cups of tea and sweet treats with their beloveds. Learn more about Ezra at ezrafox.net or on Instagram @ezraxfox.
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