What America Looks Like -- a poetry-photo

     Recent Presidential misstatements and distortions of American politics and policies are disturbing -- and I have pulled from my shelf a literary anthology This Is What America Looks Like. published in 2021 by the Washington Writers Publishing House and containing fiction and poetry from writers in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  (Purchase is available at amazon.com.)  In this collection I found, in the poem "D.C." by Donald Illich, the phrase "here, where presidents lied" -- and since the poem contains a couple of quantitative words, I offer it below:

     D.C.     by Donald Illich  

             I'd never seen rats
             crawl down city streets
             until I came here,
             where presidents lied,  

Earth Day -- Conserve!

      Today I look back to this "Fib" posted last year and to other previous Earth Day postings.  -- as I HOPE that we can learn to save our planet!

Steam Poetry Video Contest -- deadline 4/30

      A brief reminder that the STEAM POWERED POETRY VIDEO CONTEST -- announced in this this posting from last November -- has its entry deadline approaching very soon -- on Wednesday, April 30.  And here is a direct link to contest information.

Write a poem . . .Create a video of you reading it . . . SUBMIT! 

AMS Contest-winning Student Mathy Poems

      It delights me that the American Mathematical society links math and poetry by sponsoring a student poetry contest each year.   AMS recently announced this year's winners (along with videos of the winning poems) -- and I offer samples of the winning poems (from college, high school, and middle school students) below:

     from "Proof"  by Emilynne Newsom, Harvey Mudd College

          There's a practice you will see in math.
          It is a way of showing what is true.
          In steady step-by-step it lays a path
          from what you know to what you seek to prove.    (Find the rest here.)

     from "Homeric Simile ... "  by Samanyu Ganesh, The Westminster Schools

          Just as the sea otters grasp each others' paws
          whilst sleeping, latently
          basking in the stillness of their moonlit sanctuary, drifting
          assuredly      . . .       (Find the rest of this poem here.)     

    from "forever"    by Nora McKinstry, Edmond Heights, K-12     

          a mobius strip is a never ending loop a
          forever-going cycle of one small strip
          but still it goes on and on
          impossible to stop but easily created . . .        (Find the rest here.)  

Math Women -- and one of them writes Poetry

     One of my recent delights was to be contacted by mathematician Lakshmi Chandrasekaran, a mathematician that is one of the team at Her Maths Story -- a website (found at https://hermathsstory.eu/ ) that publicizes and celebrates the stories of female mathematicians.  A bit of background about the website is shown in the screen-shot below:

Exploring Math-Attitudes with Verse

     Exploring the internet, looking for mathy poems, I came across the website Poemverse -- and I entered the search term math and was led to an exciting list of possibilities -- and plentiful outcomes also occurred when I searched using other mathy terms -- algebra, geometry, etc...   I  also found a collection of "Poetry for the Math Haters" -- at this link.  Below I offer two verses found there -- alas, without information about the contributing poets. 

     Finding Humor in Math Hating

          Mathematical Mischief       by Jessica Rose

               Oh, math, your tricks and riddles,
               Leave my brain tangled and in a fiddle,
               But in this battle of numbers and wit,
               I'll find humor, and never submit.

          Mathematical Laughter      by David Scott

               Math, my eternal nemesis, it seems,
               Yet I'll laugh at your complex schemes,
               For in this world of calculations and strife,
               A little humor is the elixir of life.

AND, here is a link to some YouTube math songs!

In April, Celebrate BOTH Mathematics and Poetry

           In the United States, April is both National Poetry Month and Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month.  Visits to the links in the preceding sentence will offer lots of information about these monthly celebrations (as will exploring this blog).  AND, below I offer a poetic celebration of mathematics.

     American poet Harry Mathews (1950-2017) was a member of OULIPO and divided his time between New York and Paris; much of his work moved outside the restrictions of traditional poetic forms.

     Here are the opening lines of his poem,  "Safety in Numbers":

from    Safety in Numbers     by Harry Mathews

     The enthusiasm with which I repeatedly declare you my one
     And only confirms the fact that we are indeed two,
     Not one; nor can anything we do ever let us feel three
     (And this is no lisp-like alteration: it's four
     That's a crowd, not a trinity), and our five
     Fingers and toes multiplied leave us at six-