Monday, April 15, 2024

The Geometry of Distraction

      California poet Carol Dorf is a retired math teacher and writer of a very varied library of poems, including many with math connections.  It has been my pleasure to read with her at math-poetry readings and to include a number of her poems here in my blog.  (This link leads to a list of my many postings of her work here in this blog.)
    Browsing online today, I have come across still another one of Dorf's mathy poems which I would like to share.  Here are the opening lines of "Spring Again: -- and the complete poem is found here at poetryfoundation.org.

from     Spring, again    by Carol Dorf

         The last of the meyer lemons ripen on the bush
          in heavy clusters; or maybe they should be labelled the first

          of spring, beside the wasps buzzing their way into
          the purple blossoms we call ground cover.

          Strange recompense this return after two years
          of despair, or do I count it as nearly six.

          And for those who made it (don’t count the 950,000)
          we’ve reached another spring to embrace.

               . . .             The completion of "Spring, again" is available at this link.


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