THE STORY OF MATHEMATICS -- in a poem

     A mathy poem that I have learned about from Carol Dorf (poet and retired math teacher and poetry editor at talkingwriting.com) is "The Story of Mathematics" by poet and teacher Sarah Dickenson Snyder.  Offered below, "The Story of Mathematics" first appeared in the Spring 2020 issue of 300 Days of Sun -- it is a poem for which I have needed (and enjoyed) the challenge of several re-readings, both silent and aloud, to take it in.

     The Story of Mathematics    by Sarah Dickenson Snyder

     ​It starts with a shell –
     its curve and shine,

     the way a line peaks.
     It starts with a star

     and the arc
     between bone and light.

     An angled story
     never ending –

     a book blooming,
     the gnarled woody parts

     peeled to reveal the tender.
     So much hardens

     from the outside –​
     the denominator

     of rain and sun
     and unseen roots.

Here is a link to a host of math-related poems in the online journal talkingwriting.com.