WHO wrote it -- she or he or AI?

     At this link, in a 2024 issue of Nature magazine, I found this article:   "AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably."

     And so, with skepticism, I experimented.  I visited the generator and when it asked me for words that I would like to be included, I offered the following:  mathematics, poetry, human, imagine, color, sound, rhyme, feel.  The poem that AI created for me is copied and pasted below . . . .not every word was used, but I was very positively impressed by the generated poem. 

A Poet Explores the Quadratic Formula

        On the website of math teacher-blogger Denise Gaskins I find a fascinating posting entitled "A Poet Completes the Square"  -- and the posting contains a poem entitled "QUADRATIC FORMULA."  I offer the opening stanzas of this poem below and a link to the complete poem.

School brings us to Mathematics

       Although numbers and quantitative reasoning are a common part of many of our days, a lot of us are not alert to the notion that we are using mathematics.  This thought came to mind as I enjoyed reading Howard Nemerov's poem, "September, The First Day of School," shared with me by Gregory Coxson -- a retired Naval Academy engineering professor and poetry fan,  (Previous blog contributions by Coxson may be found at this link.)    

       I offer the first two stanzas of Nemerov's poem below -- followed by a link to the complete poem.  

A Love Story -- and a Hypotenuse

          The following poem -- "Fayetteville Junior High" by Delaware poet Fleda Brown -- uses mathematical terms in entertainingly describing a romance between two teachers:  

Remembering Tom Lehrer (1928-2025)

        Celebrated as both a musician and a mathematician was Tom Lehrer (Thomas Andrew Lehrer -- 1928-2025).  Lehrer recorded pithy, humorous, and often political songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s.  Many of his songs parodied popular musical forms, often with original melodies.

         The American Mathematical Society (AMS) offers a "mostly mathematical" appreciation of Lehrer -- on YouTube, posted here by mathematician Ken Ono.   Links to many videos by Ono are available here.  

A Path to Mathematics

        A very important source of poetry with links to mathematics is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- an online journal -- edited by Mark Huber (Claremont McKenna College) and Gizem Karaali (Pomona College), and found at this link.  In the July 2026 issue of JHM, I found several fine poems, including the following one -- "My Journey to Mathematics" --  by Thao Thuan Vu Ho from Vietnam National University HCMC, University of Science.  This thoughtful poem explores the sometimes undermined but important aspects of mathematics.

Writing with AI . . .

      Found in Scientific American:  Poetry was humanity's first language technology.  AI is the next.  Read mire here --  and learn (from this February 2026 article) how poet Sasha Stiles connects poetry and AI.  Here are a few lines from the article.  

Poetry and artificial intelligence can appear as opposites—one deeply human; the other cold and mechanical. Sasha Stiles sees them as expressions of the same impulse. Poetry, the Kalmyk- American poet argues, is “one of our most ancient and enduring technologies,” a system of meter and rhyme invented to store vital information. She views AI as its natural heir.

More than Maths . . . fun math poems . . .

       As you may know aready, British folks uss "maths" as a shortened version of "mathematics" -- while those of us in the U.S. use "math".  A fun-to-visit website that I found recenly is MoreThanMaths.com;  at the site (at which postings ended in 2015) a search for "poem" led me to this link -- where I found lots of students' mathy poems, including this one:

Explore more student maths poems. visit MoreThanMaths.com.

"Lullaby for the Mathematician"

      From the March 1994 issue of Poetry, this thoughtful poem by Pennsylvania poet and professor Robert Bernard Hass:       

Short lines that GROW . . .

      With line-lengths whose syllable-counts follow the Fibonacci numbers, a writer has the opportunity to develop a gradually expanding thought.  Here are the opening lines of a Fibonacci poem by poet Punya Mishra following that pattern:

Mishra's complete poem is found here.

Previous blog postings that include work by Mishra may be found at this link.  And still more mathy poetry by Mishra may be found here.

Remembering Wendell Berry

      In today's news I learned of  the recent death of award-winning author Wendell Berry (1934–2026).  In more than fifty books of poetry, fiction, and essays, Berry explored the notion of living a principled life in accordance with the natural world. His many volumes of poetry include The Broken Ground, The Country of Marriage, and Collected Poems, 1957–1982. True to his vision, Berry lived with his wife, Tanya, on a farm in Kentucky that had been in his family since the nineteenth century,

     Here, from the Poetry Foundation website, is one of Berry's fine poems. (published in 1962 and a little bit mathy)  exploring the passage of time:  

Walking to find a solution . . .

     Exploring Facebook recenty I came across Motive for Metaphor -- a site with this introduction:

Motive for Metaphor offers poetical expressions for sharing & is inspired by a Wallace Stevens poem of the same name (available here)..

At the Motive for Metaphor website I came across a poem title that interested me greatly -- because I often walk to help my thinking .  . .  Here, below, are the opening stanzas of that poem -- Solvitur Ambulando ''It is solved by walking"  by Billy Collins;  the complete poem is available at-this-link. 

Spread the love of MATH -- with POEMS

       For me, writing is part of my thinking process -- my fingers join my brain in formulating thoughts. And, if the current day is not one that inspires my creativity, then reading the creative work of others helps me to restore.  Earlier this month (on August 8) I posted a sample from this website of Claire Jensen:  

 Poems of Maths: 35 Creative Math Poems for Students and Teachers .

and I do so again today to encourage the thinking that occurs as we write.  Taking notes from what we read helps plant it in our brain.

Mathematics and Cats

 An interesting, somewhat poetic quote:

Found (along with lots more) at Quote Investigator website:  Quote Origin: Mathematics Is the Simple Bit. It’s the Stuff We Can Understand. It’s Cats That Are Complicated – Quote Investigator®.  I have been reflecting on the quote  -- and wondering about the complication of cats . . .

Background information about the Quote Investigator website may be found here -- and about its creator, Garson O'Toole,   John Conway (1937-2020) has been previously mentioned in this blog's posts found at this link.

A poetic view of Arithmetic

     Recently I found -- and have been musing over -- this poetic quote by  poet Carl Sandburg (1878-1967):

Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky ---  or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time.

 

Is each of us a MATH PERSON?

This article "Everybody is a Math Person . . ." by writer and teacher Larry Ferlazzo explores the nature of math anxiety and also the meanings of the terms:  "math person" and "poetry person."  

Ferlazzo offers these views:  Many students say:  “I’m not good at math.” A statement made by one student that turns into a ripple effect: “Math is so hard.” “My parents aren’t good at math, and neither am I.” “I just don’t have a math brain.”  

Reasons and Proofs -- in a Poem

This week I have been enjoying family vacation time  but this evening I have a moment to share a mathy poem that I found recently on Facebook -- "THE WORLD I LIVE IN" -- lines by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver (1935-2019),   Lots of information about her is available at this link and ten of her very fine poems are available here.

Browsing the Web -- Finding Mathy Poems

           Recently I came across this website -- 30 Memorable Mathematics Poems - Tiny Poetry -- and I enjoyed browsing its poems.  The website included the following comment:

These poems are completely original - not copied from anywhere. Feel free to use them however you want.

 Here is a sample:

Exploring the truth -- with a FIB!

        Gregory Coxson, recently retired faculty member at the US Naval Academy's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department -- and a long-time friend, enjoys discovering and sharing mathy poems -- some of them his own,  Recently he sent me the following Fib.

A Fib       by Gregory Coxson

     I
     You
     We all
     Have built-in
     Math abilities
     We’re captivated by puzzles
     Daily life is full of numbers and calculations.

Counting , , ,

 Here are the opening stanzas of a thoughtful poem by mathematician-writer Marian Christie:

Christie's complete poem is available here on her website and previous inclusions of her work in this blog may be found at this link.

Short word problems: do the math

       Raymond Nat Turner is the poet-in-residence for Black Agenda Report (a website of news, commentary, and analysis from the black left) -- and I have found and been moved by his mathy poem of protest entitled "Short word problems: do the math" l  I offer its opening stanzas below, followed by a link to the complete poem.

YouTube Video Celebrates Omar Khayyam

 Enjoy a 1-minute video celebrating 

the MATH and POETRY of  Omar Khayyam 

This Mathematician Solved Impossible Equations

                               While Writing Poetry -- YouTube   

This blog posting -- from long ago in 2011 -- also features Khayyam.

Omar Khayyam  (1048–1131) was a Persian poet and polymath, known for his contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and Persian literature.  He was born in Nishapur, Iran and lived during the Seljuk era, around the time of the First Crusade. 

Cross BRIDGES ... 2026 Bridges Galway Conference

    Each year an international BRIDGES Conference celebrates the connections between mathematics and the arts -- featuring connections with music, literature, visual art, theater . . . Here is a link to the website for the 2026 BRIDGES Conference -- to be held August 5-8 in Galway, Ireland. 

    An important and popular part of each BRIDGES Conference is a Poetry Reading.  Scheduled for Saturday, August 8, 2026, the formal reading will include mathy poems from each of the poets named below; on this webpage (maintained by poetry reading co-organizer--and poet--Sarah Glaz) each of the following names is linked to biographical information and a sample poem.  

Sadness -- Math-Poet Emily Grosholz has passed . . .

        I have been saddened to learn of the death, early in May, of  philosopher, writer, and professor at Penn State University -- and a frequent contributor to this blog --  Emily Rolfe Grosholz.  (Here is a link to her informative obituary.)

       In remembrance of Emiy, here is the opening stanza of her poem ""In Praise of Fractals" -- posted in this blog at this link back in November, 2014.

from "In Praise of Fractals" by Emily Grosholz

This link leads to a list of citations of Emily Grosholz and her work in this blog.

Let's Play Math -- and double Pi!

     A website that I enjoy visiting and one that many current math teachers could enjoy visiting often is 

Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math – Helping families to learn and enjoy math together.

Learn more about Gaskins here in this biographical sketch -- and enjoy her Let's Play Math blog. Here is a link to a posting with several mathy poems:   Math Makers: Write a Poem – Denise Gaskins' Let's Play Math.  Here is one of my favorite examples of her postings:

Celebrate Juneteenth!

     This month, America celebrates its Juneteenth, commemorating the day the last group of enslaved African Americans was informed they were free. Juneteenth marks the events of June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas when the last Black slaves of the Confederacy were ordered free following the arrival of Union troops.  Also called Emancipation Day or Freedom Day, the holiday rose to national prominence in 2020 amid nationwide protests against ongoing racial inequities, sparked in part by the police killings of George Floyd, a Black man, and Breonna Taylor, a Black woman. Juneteenth has been long celebrated by the Black community but was officially recognized as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden in 2021.

When is Juneteenth?  Juneteenth is on Friday, June 19, this year.

Science in Meter and Verse (from Sci. Amer.)

 Combining math and parenting . .. 

        It delights me that Scientific American includes science-related poetry -- and when my monthly issue arrives I turn first to the monthly poem.  Here are the opening stanzas of  'The Algorithm' by California poet Barbara Quick from the May, 2022  issue.

Optimization under uncertainty
is a field of study in which my grown son
will earn his Ph.D. The math, in his case,
concerns the production of wind energy.

He reads his papers aloud on the phone to me
as a way to optimize their clarity,
so that even a layperson, such as myself,
can understand what he’s saying,
in between each beautifully made
equation and graph.

                       . . .                            Quick's complete poem is available at this link.

Small Child, Loud Noise

Sent to me by poet Jacqueline Lapidus, I have this slightly mathy poem:

        The Screaming Toddler Ratio

The volume of the voice is in inverse proportion to the size of the speaker/screamer. When I hear that screech in a store, I follow it to the stroller, squat down to eye level in spite of knee, and whisper, "Are you the very small person who's making that GREAT BIG NOISE?" Invariably, the kid stops screaming and looks at me with an expression that says, how the hell did she know?" I smile at the toddler, the toddler smiles back. I stand up and explain basic math to the grateful parent. Short people know! (I'm 2" shorter than when we first connected, of course.) Teachers, too.

Previous mentions of work by Lapidus in this blog may be found at this link.

The last -- for which the first was made . . .

 

I found this poem online here at poets.org.

Biographical information about Robert Browning also is found at the above link.

A Pleasure or a Puzzle?

     A few weeks ago (during National Poetry Month) I came upon an opinion piece by Danny Heitman in the The Washington POST with this title:  "I read poetry for work.  You get to read it for pleasure."  And today I am thinking about duality of roles for mathematics activity as well as for poetry -- a pleasure or a puzzle??  I celebrate both.

Danny Heitman is the editor of Phi Kappa Phi’s Forum magazine and the author of “A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House.”    Heitman explains:  As the editor of a magazine that includes a poetry column, I routinely read poems because I have to. But I also delve into poems for pleasure, something that makes me an outlier among America’s readers. According to a National Endowment for the Arts survey conducted in 2022, only 11.5 percent of American adults had read or listened to poetry in the previous year. When friends and I talk about what’s on our reading

And below, from the Spring, 2009 issue of Phi Kappa Phi Forum is a mathy poem by Robert Lima (1935-2022), for many years a Professor at Penn State University.

Resisting Disability with Poetry and Math

We different humans have different abilities . . . 

Zoeglossia is a literary organization seeking to pioneer a new, inclusive space for poets with disabilities.  Launched in 2017, Zoeglossia is the first such organization in the poetry landscape. The idea is to provide an intersectional community open to a wide range of disability poetics, encouraging conversation and support.  This link leads to a wide variety of poems that explore the experiences and consequences of illnesses and disabilities . .. and I offer a the opening portion of a sample from that collection below.

Number Twenty       by Jonathan Mack

This, the story that brings me to you, is one story in twenty. In the other nineteen I am dead. In five stories I’m dead of AIDS, having suffered every possible infection and died at home, in a variety of hospitals, and in the toilet of a theater. There are seven suicides between the ages of twelve and twenty-five. There are two terrible car accidents -- one involving a drunk driver and one that is entirely my fault. In one story I live only three days and  . . .

        Jonathan Mack's poem is from This New Breed. Copyright © 2002 by Jonathan Mack.

Put a Fibonacci poem in your pocket!

       Each year the month of April is celebrated as National Poetry Month  -- and upcoming April 29, 2026 is this year's Poem in Your Pocket Day.  

       I invite you to explore this blog to find a poem you'd love to carry in your pocket . . . .and, below, I provide another possible pocket-poem -- this one a poem whose line-syllables are counted by the Fibonacci numbers.  These lines below are the opening lines of a poem by Arizona State professor and writer Punya Mishra; the complete poem is offered at this link:

This link leads to previous blog postings that offer Fibonacci poems.

Waiting for good and kind . . .

Only a bit of math ... but an important concern ... needing a solution:

This link leads to more mathy poems in this blog 

by Langston Hughes (1901-1967).

2026 AMS Math-Poetry Contest Winners

        Today I have discovered the wonderful list of winning poems from this years Math-Poetry Contest sponsored by the American Mathematical Society.  This link to the AMS website offers links to thirteen winning poems , ,, , I encourage you to follow the link and enjoy . . . and encourage students you know to explore math-poetry connections.

       Below I offer the opening stanzas of a very fine poem by one of the AMS winners -- Jaycee Chen from the STEAM Academy at John F. Kennedy School.  Chen's poem received an Honorable Mention in the Middle School Division.

A Quiet Music of Numbers     by Jaycee Chen

April -- Celebrate BOTH Mathematics and Poetry

       April is National Poetry Month AND National Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month -- and here in this blog we continue to celebrate poetry-math connections.  Below I offer the opening stanzas of an old poem of mine entitled "Time".

          The clock goes round --
          making time a circle
          rather than a line.
          Each year's return to spring
          layers time on time.

A Poetic Triangle of Numbers

The shape and patterns of the following lines have me thinking of them as a visual poem:

 1 x 1 = 1

11 x 11 = 121

111 x 111 = 12321

1111 x 1111 = 1234321

11111 x 11111 = 123454321

111111 x 111111 = 12345654321

1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321

11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321

111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Scientific American Shares Rhymes

      Lots of years ago, an important part of my awareness of poems that involve math came from reading work by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" in Scientific American . . . and it has been a delight to me to find poetry again in my issues of that magazine.   METER, a Scientific American feature edited by Dava Sobel, offers a bit of science-related poetry each month -- and the April 2026 issue features three mathy limericks by Jeffrey Branzburg (a retired math teacher and technology consultant).  I offer one of these limericks below.

       Topology     by Jeffrey Branzburg

Mathematics . . . is loaded with poetry

        Online I have learned about a recent lecture by Werner Herzog at Brooklyn Public Library's Pi-Day celebration:  Is Math Art? Werner Herzog Says Yes.  

Quoting from Herzog's presentation:

"Beyond all of this, I do believe mathematics is a new form of art. . . It is loaded with meaning.  It's not just an aesthetic or a form of abstract painting.  It's loaded with poetry."

Celebrate the "Year of Math"

     A Congressional Resolution declaring 2026 as a Year of Math in the U.S. was introduced in the Senate (on 12/18/2025) by its co-sponsors, Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R,WV) and John Hickenlooper (D, CO), and in the House (on 3/92/2026) by its co-sponsors, Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D, PA-6) and Jay Obernolte (R, CA-23). We deeply appreciate that this is a bipartisan effort in both chambers.

Each of the Senate and the House resolved that it: 

(1) expresses support for the declaration of a “Year of Math” in the United States;

A Syllable-square for St. Patrick's Day

       March brings shamrocks --
       St. Patrick's Day, 
       luck of Irish, 
       let's dance and sway. 

These words about the day we celebrate on March 17 are from Catherine Pulsifer, A Holiday Awaits -- one of many examples of Words of Wisdom found here.  Details about the life of St. Patrick may be found here.

Happy Pi-Day

 

Top Math Blogs on FeedSpot

Recently I as delighted to learn -- from Anuj Agarwal, the founder of  FeedSpot -- that this blog Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics  has been selected as one of the Top 90 Math Blogs on the web (2026 Edition).  And I have mentioned two others of the top 90 in my blog postings (found here).

Here is a link to the FeedSpot listings.   

Another FeedSpot list to consider  -- 30 best Math Teacher Blogs.

Is 13 Unlucky?

        Today I am briefly reflecting on the fact that both last month and this month (2026 February and March) contain a Friday-the-13th.  And those thoughts have led me to a tiny, syllable-count triangle poem.

       Is
       it true
       that Friday
       the thirteenth's an
       unlucky happening?

       Counting syllables
       can celebrate
       ( in a way )
       that prime
       day!

Spelling with Roman Numerals

Sharing a few words (found on X Twitter) from a FB post by poet Brian Bilston:

Previous postings in this blog of poems by Brian Bilston may be found at this link.

Creative Writing -- Including Mathematics

A reminder of upcoming student mathy writing-contest deadlines: 

Create a video for a STEAM poem (A list of poems is provided.) -- deadline April 30, 2026, more info here.

A MoMath Contest with a variety of entry categories, including poems -- deadline, April 23, 2026.

 Contests for which entry deadlines have passed -- but which will offer new entry opportunities in the future -- include the AWM Essay Contest and the American Mathematical Society Poetry Contest.

And, starting to count by twos, I find:

                    Writing
                    is a process
                    to discover new thoughts.

Valentine Math Poem

This morning as I was looking online for Valentine greetings to send to my grandchildren, I found this mathy poem:

The image above was found here at the TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) website.   

Vector Poetry

     Radoslav Rochallyi  is a poet, essayist, and interdisciplinary artist living in Prague, Czech Republic -- and the author of eight books of poetry.   Recently I found his work featured here in Math Values, an online publication of the MAA (Mathematical Association of America)/

     In Rochallyi's article -- entitled "Vector Poetry" -- he shows us three different illustrations of poetry portrayed using vectors.   He takes a phrase that he would like to communicate poetically and offers three examples of how it could be portrayed using vector poetry.  The phrase is:

The Groundhog's Prediction

      Growing up in western Pennsylvania -- on a farm close to Indiana, PA -- I was not far from the town of Punxsutawney and enjoyed celebration each year on February 2 of "Groundhog Day."  On this day a legendary groundhog who has burrowed underground to spend the worst of winter -- near Punxsutawney, PA --  peeks out to test the weather.  If he sees no shadow, spring is on the way BUT if he sees his shadow, he quicky scurries back to his underground refuge, this departure predicting six more weeks of winter.  (Recent publicizing of this event has altered it -- now the groundhog does his shadow-seeing and prediction in front of a large audience.  And it is televised!)

     Today, in her weekly radio broadcast on wpsu, poet Marjorie Maddox offered the slightly mathy Groundhog Day poem "On Gobbler's Knob" by Pittsburgh poet Shirley Stevens (1940-2022).  I offer it below (followed by a link to background information about the poem and the poet).  Alas, today's groundhog has predicted six more winter weeks.

       On Gobbler’s Knob     by Shirley Stevens 

       We gather on the hill outside Punxsutawney
       to draw tight circles against the dark.

       Five thousand strong, we twist and shout
       to circulate blood to our frozen toes,

Beauty in Mathematics

      A few days ago I found poetic words (offered below) by G. H. Hardy (1877-1947) posted on X by @TheMathFlow  -- I enjoyed not only the poem but also an exploration of various MathFlow postings -- which offer lots of delightful bits of mathematics.   (Visit @TheMathFlow and enjoy!)

Reading Numbers Like Poetry

      When I come across a title that connects math and poetry, I become interested -- and want to read more. Google helped me discover here, in China Daily, an article featuring German professor Andrea Breard entitled "Reading numbers like poetry: A journey into ancient Chinese math."  She goes on to tell about some algebraic methods that were written as poems -- the rhythm allowing easier and better memorization.  

     Andrea Breard is a German historian of mathematics, specializing in Chinese mathematics.  Her remarks took me back to my childhood when we frequently repeated "counting rhymes" as we dressed or played or whatever.  "One, Two, Buckle my shoe . . ." and "Hickory, Dickory, Dock . . . the mouse ran up the clock . . ." were frequent  parts of my childhood chatter.

Share the Love of Math -- Students -- Enter Contest!

A Contest for High School Students -- Read on to learn more . . .

     Students who are 15 to 18 years old (on September 1, 2025) are invited to apply for the 2026 Steven H. Strogatz Prize for Math Communication (sponsored by MoMath, the NY Museum of Mathematics) to share their love of math with the world!

     On or before April 23, 2026 projects will be accepted in the following categories:

        Art, Audio, Performance, Social media, Video, and Writing.

Examples include: podcasts, articles, school newspaper columns, art exhibits, videos, websites, Instagram accounts, songs, plays, and any other mode of public communication.  Detailed information is available at this link.

Celebrate Math-Women -- AWM Essay Contest

 Entry deadline is coming soon -- February 1, 2026.

Students are invited to interview a math-woman
and write about it -- 
and submit the essay to the Association for Women in Mathematics
by February 1, 2026.

Guidelines (middle-school, high school, college submissions) are here.

Previous winning essays are available here (follow the link and scroll down).  

Math, Poetry, and AI

     Recently I came across a math-poetry article here in a newsletter published by the University of Illinois, Springfield -- an article entitled "Navigating the Intersection of Math, Poetry, and AI: The Crossroads in Helena Soares’ Pursuit."  The article shares poetry by Soares -- who is a student majoring in both mathematics and English -- and also includes a brief essay by her, entitled "A journey through math, AI, and poetry."   Here is a poem by Soares from that article:  

Holding Logic and Imagination Together

     Recently Google led me to a recent and fascinating article about Jordanian poet Dr. Zaina Al-Qasem, a Jordanian scholar, who combines data science with creativity and is also a published poet.  For her, mathematics and poetry share thought patterns — both driven by interpretation, structure, and the search for meaning, but through different lenses.

Here are a few reflective lines of Zaina Al-Qasem's verse -- found in the article linked-to above  -- lines that capture both introspection and intent.

Shaped like a SNOWFLAKE

     Choosing a shape for a poem leads to restrictions on the numbers and lengths of words -- and sometimes this generously promotes creativity.  Moving through the chilly winter season, I have discovered this poem -- "The Six-Cornered Snowflake"  in POETRY (December, 1989) by poet and editor  John Frederick Nims (1913-99).  ENJOY!   

Math Ideas Expressed in Limericks

When you have time, a fascinating website to visit and browse is OEDILF  -- The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form.   

Here is a sample:    

      cuproid by Recumbentman (Limerick #89414)

            Tetrahedrons are bounded by four
            Triangular faces, no more.
            If on each one of those
            A pyramid rose,
            A cuproid would then take the floor.   

Student Math-Poetry Contest -- submit by 1/20/26

     The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is again sponsoring a Math-Poetry Contest for students -- inviting submission of poems up to 20 lines in length in three admission categories:  

      Middle School      High School       College  

Information about how to submit entries -- along with wonderful results from past contests  -- is available at this link.

     The following poem (which is found online here -- along with other winners) by Nora McKinstry (Edmonds Heights K-12 S) was the Middle School winner in 2025.  

Effects of Counting

      A recent visit to the Poetry Foundation website brought me to poems by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) -- and I counted sadly as I read his poem, "We Are Seven."  I offer its opening stanzas below (and the complete poem -- 17 stanzas -- is available here.) 

We Are Seven       by William Wordsworth

          ———A simple Child,

          That lightly draws its breath,

          And feels its life in every limb,

          What should it know of death?  

Can Poems Affect Students' Math-Attitudes?

     For some students, math is fun BUT . . . if we don't understand something that can keep it from being fun.  For those who DO NOT FIND MATH FUN, it is important for the rest of us to try to change that attitude.  One useful viewpoint is that math need not be treated as an isolated subject . . . it is connected to our lives in VERY MANY ways.  And sometimes, as this blog's postings illustrate, poetry offers non-threatening ways of making connections.

     One of my recent discoveries is the website We Are Teachers where I found a collection of 38 mathy poems -- a dozen for elementary school students and the rest for middle and high students.  Here is a sample from the elementary school group.

Like Poetry, Mathematics is Beautiful -- -- again!

      Fourteen years ago, back in October of 2011, I posted a poem of mine entitled, "Like Poetry, Mathematics is Beautiful" (at this link).  Written more than thirty years ago, this continues to be one of my favorites of my mathy poems.   I offer a portion of it below.

       Like Poetry, Mathematics is Beautiful     by JoAnne Growney

             Timidly I ask
             each one I meet if they
             find mathematics beautiful
             or useful, and each one dares to say,
             "Useful, of course. I use it every day."
             And if I seem to want a proof,
             they all go on to tell  
             that daily they subtract and add
             to keep a checkbook; sometimes also
             they multiply to find how many squares
             they need to tile the kitchen floor.

Mathy Lines from the Poet Laureate

     Born in New York City (1950) and of Asian heritage, poet Arthur Sze is the 25th US Poet Laureate (named on September 15, 2025) and the first Asian American to hold that position.   In the October 20, 2025 issue of The New Yorker, we find Sze's poem, "Library of Congress,"  which opens with these somewhat mathy lines:

        You peer down a lit corridor
        on the fifth tier of stacks
        where a million books breathe
        on shelves, here's a book
        on neutrinos, captured in Antarctica,
        here's another on solar flares.
        A curator displays a book
        in Vai script and points to a triangle
        with two dots, you wonder . . . 

Mathematics organizes libraries!

More poetry from Sze can be found here;  
scroll down below the bio to find titles and links.

Poetry Comics Month -- with a bit of Math

     Poetry-comic-artist Grant Snider posts wonderfully illustrated and entertaining verses online -- on X (Twitter) @grantdraws -- and sometimes his postings are mathy. Here is a link to an interview with Snider.  Snider has indicated in his postings that our current month of October is Poetry Comics Month,  Here is a link to one of his past poetry-comics-month postings -- and below I offer one of his illustrated mathy haiku.

World Nursery Rhyme Week

 On X I learned that this week -- November 10-14, 2025 -- is World Nursery Rhyme Week, and I searched and found this website that offers information about the week and these "5 official rhymes for 2025":

    Monday, 10th -- Sing a Song of Sixpence  
         Tuesday, 11th -- Humpty Dumpty
    Wednesday, 12th -- When I Was One (I played the drum)
         Thursday, 13th -- I Hear Thunder
     Friday, 14th -- Two Little Dickie Birds

Here at this website are all of the above except "Two Little Dickie Birds" -- which I offer a version of below.  (Here in Wikipedia is more about that rhyme.)

Simplifying Mathematics with Poetry

 At this link, I found the following math-poetry information:

      JOHANNESBURG - Some good news for struggling mathematics students:

Award-winning author Botshelo Mthomboti has a solution for you.   In her book, Poetic Atmosphere of Mathematics, Mthomboti simplifies the subject through poetry. The 22-year-old Financial Management graduate has also penned two other books, A Black Child Transformed by Accounting, and The Poetic Atmosphere of Income Tax.

     Here is a link to a YouTube video of a news story -- entitled "Poetic Solutions to Complex Problems" -- that tells of Mthomboti and shares her poem entitled "Multiplication and Division of Variables."    And here is more about Mthomboti.

THANK YOU, Botshelo Mthomboti, for the enthusiastic energy you give to mathematics.  

"Who Counts, Counts" -- by Stephanie Strickland

       Stephanie Strickland is a poet whom I know and much admire -- and her work contains a rich variety of math-poetry creations; her poems have been featured in several posts in this blog (Here's a link to those postings.)  Today I had the good fortune to refind another of her poems -- not yet posted herein -- and I offer it below.  

     Who Counts, Counts      by Stephanie Strickland

          Baby and you
          --and me,
          we will make three,

                 but baby-and-me
                 are different; we're two-
                 who-are-one.  

Geometry and Poetry -- with a Pumpkin

     Posted on X by talented and prolific STEAM blogger, Heidi Bee Roemer (@poetweet4), this Halloween poem relates to the geometry of a carved pumpkin face -- with mathematical shapes. 

An activist children's author,  Romer promote literacy, shares STEAM resources & hosts contests for college, high school & jr. high students. Publications include 9 kids' books, and more than 400 poems.  Her website is steampoweredpoetry.com.   

Math Class -- featuring GIRLS

      I recently learned of a book by creative writer Kellie Krumrie entitled Math Class (Calamari Press, 2022) -- a book of essays that feature teen-age girls.  Exploring further I found poetry by Krumrie in La Vague -- an online feminist journal that has ceased publication BUT retains online records of previously published work.    

Here is one of Krumrie's poems which I am enjoying puzzling over!

c e m e n t   /  e m m y  n o e t h e r   by Kellie Krumrie

‘She had the faculty of visualizing remote, very complex connections without resorting to concrete examples.’

Can math be funny?

      Recently I discovered the website teacher planet and found there a variety of math-related resources including humorous versions of definitions of math terms.

Using a poetry-stanza format, I have included several of these "poetic" definitions below:

          Math is like love;
          a simple idea,
          but it can get complicated.  

Genius grant for Math-Woman

     Mathematician Lauren K. Williams (PhD ’05 MIT, currently Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University) has won a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship, a prestigious honor often called the “genius grant.” The award is presented annually by the MacArthur Foundation to “talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.”  The MacArthur Foundation praised Williams for “uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics.”

Student Contest -- STEAM-Themed Poems

      A varied and energetic and very valuable voice for the importance of connections between mathematics and poetry is STEAM-Poetry advocate Heidi Bee Roemer.  Here is a link to her focus on mathy poems.  (STEAM is a popular abbreviation for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.)

Recently Romer has opened registration for a STEAM Poetry Video Contest. Between now and April 30, 2026, students can choose a STEAM-themed poem (from a selection of 40 poems), create short videos for their younger peers, and enter them in the contest.  Contest details are here.

     And here is a sample poem by Roemer -- a mathy poem written for elementary-school students.

The Geometry of Verse

     Here in the US, we have a new poet laureate (announced by the Library of Congress on September 15, 2025)  --  and this selected poet Arthur Sze sees poetry as a unifying agent -- "verse can bring us together".

     Sze is a poet whose work I value reading -- but its links to mathematics are gentle and scattered.  Here is a sample --  the closing lines from Sze's poem "Sight Lines".  (The complete poem is available here at poets.org.)