Creative Writing -- Including Mathematics

A reminder of upcoming student mathy writing-contest deadlines: 

Create a video for a STEAM poem (A list of poems is provided.) -- deadline April 30, 2026, more info here.

A MoMath Contest with a variety of entry categories, including poems -- deadline, April 23, 2026.

 Contests for which entry deadlines have passed -- but which will offer new entry opportunities in the future -- include the AWM Essay Contest and the American Mathematical Society Poetry Contest.

And, starting to count by twos, I find:

                    Writing
                    is a process
                    to discover new thoughts.

Valentine Math Poem

This morning as I was looking online for Valentine greetings to send to my grandchildren, I found this mathy poem:

The image above was found here at the TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) website.   

Vector Poetry

     Radoslav Rochallyi  is a poet, essayist, and interdisciplinary artist living in Prague, Czech Republic -- and the author of eight books of poetry.   Recently I found his work featured here in Math Values, an online publication of the MAA (Mathematical Association of America)/

     In Rochallyi's article -- entitled "Vector Poetry" -- he shows us three different illustrations of poetry portrayed using vectors.   He takes a phrase that he would like to communicate poetically and offers three examples of how it could be portrayed using vector poetry.  The phrase is:

The Groundhog's Prediction

      Growing up in western Pennsylvania -- on a farm close to Indiana, PA -- I was not far from the town of Punxsutawney and enjoyed celebration each year on February 2 of "Groundhog Day."  On this day a legendary groundhog who has burrowed underground to spend the worst of winter -- near Punxsutawney, PA --  peeks out to test the weather.  If he sees no shadow, spring is on the way BUT if he sees his shadow, he quicky scurries back to his underground refuge, this departure predicting six more weeks of winter.  (Recent publicizing of this event has altered it -- now the groundhog does his shadow-seeing and prediction in front of a large audience.  And it is televised!)

     Today, in her weekly radio broadcast on wpsu, poet Marjorie Maddox offered the slightly mathy Groundhog Day poem "On Gobbler's Knob" by Pittsburgh poet Shirley Stevens (1940-2022).  I offer it below (followed by a link to background information about the poem and the poet).  Alas, today's groundhog has predicted six more winter weeks.

       On Gobbler’s Knob     by Shirley Stevens 

       We gather on the hill outside Punxsutawney
       to draw tight circles against the dark.

       Five thousand strong, we twist and shout
       to circulate blood to our frozen toes,