We are driving to your granny’s
and you ask me
how big is eleven thousand
I tell you about all the zeros
which you say sounds like
a very tall snowman
and then you ask me
what comes after that
which is how we got talking
about a million
and a billion
and a trillion
and then we both got quiet
me thinking about that debt clock
near Times Square
and whether you and your sister
will be owned by the banks one day
like they warn us
and perhaps you thinking about
snowmen as high as skyscrapers
or a long train of round barrels
like we saw last year
winding through farmland
like a centipede
then you ask me
what comes after a trillion
I tell you I don’t know
but that we’ll look it up
I think it’s a silly-un
you say
and I tell you
with a smile
that is just a little bit sad
how right you are.