Home » Poems » John Anderson » A Piece of That

Notes About The Poem

The "sharing the pie" problem refers to the challenge of dividing a limited resource among multiple parties in a fair and equitable manner. The resource could be a pie or cake, a bill, or rent for a shared apartment. The problem arises when there are multiple individuals with different preferences, and the goal is to allocate the resource in a way that satisfies everyone's notion of fairness. It is especially challenging when people have different perceptions of value for different parts of the resource, such as icing on the cake or windows in a flat.

The "three body problem" refers to he gravity effects of three objects interacting in space and the gravity pull they exert on each other. Predicting the paths and behaviors of the three interacting objects over time is extremely challenging and complex with no simple solution.

-------------------------------------

Listen to poem:

A Piece of That

The dilemma of threes
applies whether it be,
the way gravity pulls them
in space,
Or how the space
is divvied up or the rent divided up
between the three sharing a flat,
Or even when cutting a cake
to fairly divide into 
three pieces by eye
or to give one more or less icing.
Sharing the pie
and sharing the sky
are equally problematic dilemmas 
for three of a kind in a bind.

parispeoplefree verse

♡Like0

Poem

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.