Five girls x four rows

= twenty students

before a dusty blackboard.

They learn basic mathematics:

85 percent x 3.5 million

divided by 100

= 2.98 million girls

who have never written on paper before,

Or that

24 miles to the closest school

divided by 3.1 mph

= 6 hours of walking

through faded yellow sand.

Chalk rubs against the board,

leaving behind a fresh and sharp

number 4, as 20 thrumming voices

slice through the sharpness of the numbers,

wielding the daggers of 20 pencils

choking in 20 hands.

There is a spring breeze

that flirts with the honey pages

of the shabby books,

20 divided by 2

= 10 books with

pages that rustle and flutter

like paper hearts.