A Triangular Poem

     Non-poets often wonder about the use of patterns in poems -- does following a set of constraints help of hinder the process?  For me, often -- though not always -- constraints push me to discovery.  Below I offer a triangular poem by Washington, DC poet E. Laura Goldberg which I re-found recently in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM);   Goldberg's poem remembers the costs of war.

    Pension Building, Washington, DC     by E. Laura Golberg 

          A
          dis-
          play
          of the
          normal
          curve can
          be found in
          old buildings
          where feet have
          rubbed away the
          middle of stair steps.
          Here, wounded Union
          veterans pulling one foot
          over the new marble, wore
          off atoms.  Men with crutches
          placed them firmly at an angle.
          Their boots scuffed the stairs.
          Those who had been refused
          pensions descended, while
          dragging feet.  Today, the
          building, with its pillars
          and open space is used
          as a museum.  Balls
          may be held here;
          hems of formal
          gowns weep
          down the
          stairs.

Goldberg's mathy poems  "Menger Sponge"  and "Heuristic or Stochastic?" also are available online (also published by JHM).