A Mathematician's Villanelle

     One of the most active and effective ambassadors for connections between mathematics and the arts is Gizem Karaali. Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at California's Pomona College.  Poet and writer as well as teacher and researcher, Karaali is a founding editor of Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, a peer-reviewed open-access journal that publishes articles, essays, fiction and poetry with a rich variety of connections to mathematics.

     Recently I rediscovered online one of Karaali's poems, a villanelle published almost ten years ago in the Mathematical Association of America's undergraduate magazine, Math Horizons (February, 2015, Volume 22, Issue 3).

A MATHEMATICIAN'S VILLANELLE       by Gizem Karaali

When first did I learn to cherish the bittersweet taste of mathematics?
Mental torture, subtle joy, doubt and wonder, me in meaning
Must have come later, after the games, the limericks, the lyrics.

Strange ceremonies awaited me, mystical hymns, magic tricks,
After the first gulp of water, the first bite, the first bloodletting.
When first did I learn to cherish the bittersweet taste of mathematics?

See the little girl, easily bored, not up for much brain gymnastics.
But words streamed, letters flew by, in full color my spring
Must have come later, after the games, the limericks, the lyrics.

Euclid rises on stage, other ancients follow, a lock clicks.
Number rivers join letters, friends turned lovers, a promise ring.
When first did I learn to cherish the bittersweet taste of mathematics?

You were there, my beginning, my middle, my end, my memories mix,
That time was finite, your wisdom old, my eyes weak, my mind a nestling
Must have come later, after the games, the limericks, the lyrics.

You held my hand, taught me to play, build with new bricks.
Then I was alone, except now with a group, a field, and a ring.
When first did I learn to cherish the bittersweet taste of mathematics?
Must have come later, after the games, the limericks, the lyrics.

© Mathematical Association of America, 2015. All rights reserved.

Previous mentions of Gizem Karaali in this blog may be found at this link.