Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Remembering Pi-day, a day late

Yesterday (3-14) was Pi-day, but my recent thoughts have been focused on my math-teacher son Eric (who has acute pancreatitis) and his family -- and I forgot to post this poem on the proper day.  Thanks to Lana Hechtman Ayers for these opening lines of  "Circumference:  A love poem." 

     Circumference:  a love poem      by Lana Hechtman Ayers

     x = 2 π r
     is what circulates

     but does not equal
     what’s in my heart—

     your smile that goes on
     forever, irrational.

     A relationship traverses
     linear space,

     finite
     like everything

     except the irrational—
     π and your smile

     upon seeing me come near.
     And we can speak of area,

     the space inside,
     y = π r²

     as finite even though,
     like love, it contains

     the infinite, the irrational.
      . . .

The full text of  "Circumference:  a love poem" is found in Ayers' collection, Chicken Farmer I Still Love You (D-N Publishing, 2007).
 

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