The Angry X

The angry X is making the
world over in its image.
Angry X’s are all over—
everywhere.
Angry exit signs in red
at the end of hallways
telling you to leave.
X’s all over my algebra book
impatiently awaiting
real numerical identities.
Angry red corrections all over
my latest English exam.
and angry ex-lovers calling me
on the phone all hours.
The X also appears in gyms
in the form of exercise
as angry thin instructors
demonstrate jumping jacks
while shouting numbers at
overweight people trying
to burn off x-number
of excess pounds.
The X can be easily found
in shopping malls
at X-mas time as last minute
shoppers curse their way
through herds of
other last minute shoppers.
The angry X even appears in art,
I discovered, while
flipping through a text
on minimal sculpture.
Ronald Bladen’s piece The X
towers angrily above the
other angry X’s
with its eight-foot limbs
splayed in the most
intimidating way.
Angry at painting in general
and abstract expressionism
in particular
its static cartwheels of minimalism
take us from nowhere to
someplace equally exciting.