Sitting in the steam room
of the Chicago Athletic Club
the Spirit of Calculation
wafted through wet thick heat.
Vapor enshrouded faces
with sodden voices discussed
the countable dimensions of the world.
The earth is storage,
want creating need,
supply creating demand.
The forest – lumber,
the mountain – copper coal,
the river – dammed and useful,
raw material to product.
Production requires reduction.
Towel toga-ed men plotted strategies
for numerical increase,
quantifiable measures of success,
much to more to most.
The quantifying spirit.
1970