PROMPT

Is It All or Nothing?

A one-word (‘zero’) prompted limerick with 10 responses

Response 0001:

Oh, dear grand number ‘0’ to this nerd-prompted weirdo, both circle of life and nothingness rife. You, Sir, are my numeric hero.

Or

Response 0010:

Sometimes I sob late at night while scribbling only by candlelight. The zeros on the left, my pay check bereft. I wish you’d pile up to the right.

“There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don’t.” — old mathematician’s joke

These latest limericks resulted from my stumbling upon Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s latest prompt about nothing. Well, not nothing, but about the number zero. It was too fun and quirky to pass up. Thank you, Lucy.

And for those still reading, for you I shall throw in a bonus… or 11.

Response 0011:

Zilch, bupkis, diddly squat. All you zeros add up to naught. In my skull, all is null. Zero dinero is what I’ve got.

Response 0100:

Zero, you’re such a fun number to draw. Simplicity and infinite beauty in awe. But forget all the hype, without you, how would I type the emoji of shocked guffaw :-0

Response 0101:

But your existence has not been presumable. A fact that seems rather inexcusable. Is Nero to blame for this great shame? Because for you, there is no Roman numeral.

And to a few friends I think might enjoy playing along, tag. Dave Logan, Jennifer McDougall, Jupiter Grant, Jessie Waddell, Susan Alison, Susan Foster, Tree Langdon, Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg), kasey sparks, Raine Lore, Amanda Wilson, Mark Tulin, Penelope Mayfield, yesnodunno, Asterion, Pierce McIntyre, Penny Grubb, Sadie Seroxcat, Darht Bjehl