Summer 2025

0, 1 (and other states)

A poem about gender expression by M. Frost

0,1 (and other states)

For Virginia Woolf

Regression is simpler along a continuum of linearity,

each step impactful, as if the architect could walk,

her pockets full of stones, towards the ordained conclusion.

(Once you enter the river, is your direction fixed?

Must you continue with consecutive steps, Ouse water filling your lungs?

Math has a U-shaped solution if you want to re-write that ending.)

Logistic models are harder, binary systems

constrained by numeric boundaries—0, 1.

What do you do with the space between—

the place neither yes or no, the state neither diseased nor healthy?

(We have entered the realm of probability, I promise you

there’s a cat in this box, sometimes. She purrs. Also, she claws.)

You might even think it is possible to be one or the other—

well or ill, present or absent, counted or not.

(I submit that you exist even if uncounted,

even if the mathematician has needed to invent you

as a potential solution in her algorithm.)

Hormesis, in which the dose makes the poison, but strangely.

What I find most interesting is the gravitational pull

between zero and one—not the numbers, but the states of being,

the very concept of anchors in any binary system.

To be completely zero or one may be improbable events

(but don’t worry, the model can handle those—

it only breaks for negativity and infinity).

Are you an infinite being? You can exist

in a binary world if you consider only the odds,

however extreme. Rock bottom is the lowest point of the river,

the place you came with your stones and your desolation.

But in modeling, there’s always the alternative, the edge of the river,

the place where you took the impossible step back onto land.

The creative work of M. Frost has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Strange Horizons, StarLine, The Hopkins Review, Camas, and many other venues, including a chapbook publication, Cow Poetry* (Finishing Line Press), and a collaboration, Constellation (CreateSpace).

Published by Orion's Beau

ORION'S BEAU

Summer 2025

0, 1 (and other states)

0,1 (and other states)

For Virginia Woolf

Regression is simpler along a continuum of linearity,

each step impactful, as if the architect could walk,

her pockets full of stones, towards the ordained conclusion.

(Once you enter the river, is your direction fixed?

Must you continue with consecutive steps, Ouse water filling your lungs?

Math has a U-shaped solution if you want to re-write that ending.)

Logistic models are harder, binary systems

constrained by numeric boundaries—0, 1.

What do you do with the space between—

the place neither yes or no, the state neither diseased nor healthy?

(We have entered the realm of probability, I promise you

there’s a cat in this box, sometimes. She purrs. Also, she claws.)

You might even think it is possible to be one or the other—

well or ill, present or absent, counted or not.

(I submit that you exist even if uncounted,

even if the mathematician has needed to invent you

as a potential solution in her algorithm.)

Hormesis, in which the dose makes the poison, but strangely.

What I find most interesting is the gravitational pull

between zero and one—not the numbers, but the states of being,

the very concept of anchors in any binary system.

To be completely zero or one may be improbable events

(but don’t worry, the model can handle those—

it only breaks for negativity and infinity).

Are you an infinite being? You can exist

in a binary world if you consider only the odds,

however extreme. Rock bottom is the lowest point of the river,

the place you came with your stones and your desolation.

But in modeling, there’s always the alternative, the edge of the river,

the place where you took the impossible step back onto land.

The creative work of M. Frost has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Strange Horizons, StarLine, The Hopkins Review, Camas, and many other venues, including a chapbook publication, Cow Poetry* (Finishing Line Press), and a collaboration, Constellation (CreateSpace).

Copyright © 2025 by M. Frost

Published by Orion's Beau

Summer 2025

0, 1 (and other states)

0,1 (and other states)

For Virginia Woolf

Regression is simpler along a continuum of linearity,

each step impactful, as if the architect could walk,

her pockets full of stones, towards the ordained conclusion.

(Once you enter the river, is your direction fixed?

Must you continue with consecutive steps, Ouse water filling your lungs?

Math has a U-shaped solution if you want to re-write that ending.)

Logistic models are harder, binary systems

constrained by numeric boundaries—0, 1.

What do you do with the space between—

the place neither yes or no, the state neither diseased nor healthy?

(We have entered the realm of probability, I promise you

there’s a cat in this box, sometimes. She purrs. Also, she claws.)

You might even think it is possible to be one or the other—

well or ill, present or absent, counted or not.

(I submit that you exist even if uncounted,

even if the mathematician has needed to invent you

as a potential solution in her algorithm.)

Hormesis, in which the dose makes the poison, but strangely.

What I find most interesting is the gravitational pull

between zero and one—not the numbers, but the states of being,

the very concept of anchors in any binary system.

To be completely zero or one may be improbable events

(but don’t worry, the model can handle those—

it only breaks for negativity and infinity).

Are you an infinite being? You can exist

in a binary world if you consider only the odds,

however extreme. Rock bottom is the lowest point of the river,

the place you came with your stones and your desolation.

But in modeling, there’s always the alternative, the edge of the river,

the place where you took the impossible step back onto land.

The creative work of M. Frost has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Strange Horizons, Star*Line, The Hopkins Review, Camas, and many other venues, including a chapbook publication, Cow Poetry (Finishing Line Press), and a collaboration, Constellation (CreateSpace).

Copyright © 2025 by M. Frost

Published by Orion's Beau

The creative work of M. Frost has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Strange Horizons, StarLine, The Hopkins Review, Camas, and many other venues, including a chapbook publication, Cow Poetry* (Finishing Line Press), and a collaboration, Constellation (CreateSpace).