Brambles wind through the fence
intertwine with the clematis.
As I clip and tug at the blackberry vine
a neighbor says pull the root three times—
they get the message and don't come back.

I wonder how he knows this,
what else he knows
of how to apply
this knowledge of three,
the magic number, holy number,
primordial triangle,
a perfect figure,
the smallest prime number.

Three cheers,
three wishes,
the basis for any joke—
a minister, a priest, and a rabbi walk into a bar.

Third times a charm,
a three ring circus,
id
ego
superego
intertwine,
TKO
RIP.

There were three ravens sat on a tree,
Three bears,
three pigs,
and extinct,
the trilobite and triceratops.

Three, the atomic number of Lithium,
the 33^rd most common element on earth.
Why, then for bipolarity?
Why are there two genders,
four seasons?

When I say three, everybody pull.