Enter by Nov 9 -- Student Math-Poetry Contest

Contest sponsored by the American Mathematical Society

 for 

 junior-high students . . .  . senior-high students . . . college students 

 from Maryland 

WRITE A  POEM  with connections to  MATH  -- Send it to AMS

Here's a link to contest information:  www.ams.org/math-poetry  

This blog's posting for October 10 also gives some information about the student contest.

Here's an example of a poem that is not about mathematics BUT mathematical patterns give it structure.  Before you read the note at end of the poem, can you discover how math is involved?

                          December and June     by JoAnne Growney

cold

winds howl

geese go south

nights long     tea steeps

temperatures fall low

ponds freeze     snowmen grow

toboggans slide down hillsides

wood-fires flame     snowballs fly

winds howl     groundhogs hibernate

sun glows     raspberries ripen
catbird sings     iris blooms
days long     streams rush     jays scream
holiday picnics catch flies
wheat thrives     crickets chirp
tomato plants climb
hay dries     tea's iced
catbird sings
sun glows
warm

Author's note:  The numbers of syllables in the phrases of "December and June" follow the patterns of factorization of the integers from 1 to 10, then 10 to 1 -- into the prime factors 2, 3 and 5.  For example, line six has phrases of two syllables and three syllables, using factorization 6 = 2 * 3.  Line eight has three phrases of two syllables, using 8 = 2*2*2.  

     Lots of my math-related poems are available in here in this blog -- browse or (use the SEARCH box to find poems on a particular topic) -- and here at my website.