If This Is a Story, Then It Concludes

In the narrative of proof,

As in computer programs,

You start with complex statements

To get to a conclusion—

A more condensed and succinct

Statement derived from many

Interim statements. Note

How this narrative template

Differs from a movie plot,

A memoir or wonder tale.

A rigorous winnowing,

A set that contains all sets

That do not contain themselves,

Is impossible without

Building hierarchies of types

Such that each can only hold

Lower levels than themselves.

Well, enough. But it winnows,

All the same. It’s a story,

If it is, of a deep link

Involving computation

And logic, isomorphic,

Which, you know, is reductive,

Of course, but more tellingly,

Closes in on conclusions

In a way other stories,

Which pretend to ends, do not.