A popular vote on the truth of "all mathematics is poetry" might not lead to its affirmation. Because mathematics is a concise language, with emphasis on placing the best words in the best order, it often is described by mathematicians and scientists as poetry. Alternatively, and more accessible to most readers than poetic mathematics, we find verses by poets who include the objects and terminology of mathematics in their lines.
Perhaps due to aesthetic distance (featured in The Art of Mathematics by Jerry King), non-math poets like Christina M. Rau are able to be more playful in their uses of mathematical vocabulary than mathematicians dare to be. Enjoy below several stanzas from Rau's collection, Liberating the Astronauts -- which also includes titles like "Chasing Zero" and "Kepler's Laws" -- soon to be released by Aqueduct Press.
from: Overnight Rain by Christina M. Rau
Rain over Night
Equals
X over Autumn
Deluge on a shingled roof
acts as the only variable
except when the incline
parallels several sides
on a dodecahedron
minus the area of a triangle
. . .
Rau is editor of The Nassau Review -- and here is a link to some of that journal's science-poetry.
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