April is National Poetry Month AND National Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month -- and here in this blog we continue to celebrate poetry-math connections. Below I offer the opening stanzas of an old poem of mine entitled "Time".
The clock goes round --
making time a circle
rather than a line.
Each year's return to spring
layers time on time.
The shape and patterns of the following lines have me thinking of them as a visual poem:
1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321
Lots of years ago, an important part of my awareness of poems that involve math came from reading work by Martin Gardner in his "Mathematical Games" in Scientific American . . . and it has been a delight to me to find poetry again in my issues of that magazine. METER, a Scientific American feature edited by Dava Sobel, offers a bit of science-related poetry each month -- and the April 2026 issue features three mathy limericks by Jeffrey Branzburg (a retired math teacher and technology consultant). I offer one of these limericks below.
Topology by Jeffrey Branzburg
Online I have learned about a recent lecture by Werner Herzog at Brooklyn Public Library's Pi-Day celebration: Is Math Art? Werner Herzog Says Yes.
Quoting from Herzog's presentation:
"Beyond all of this, I do believe mathematics is a new form of art. . . It is loaded with meaning. It's not just an aesthetic or a form of abstract painting. It's loaded with poetry."
A Congressional Resolution declaring 2026 as a Year of Math in the U.S. was introduced in the Senate (on 12/18/2025) by its co-sponsors, Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R,WV) and John Hickenlooper (D, CO), and in the House (on 3/92/2026) by its co-sponsors, Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D, PA-6) and Jay Obernolte (R, CA-23). We deeply appreciate that this is a bipartisan effort in both chambers.
Each of the Senate and the House resolved that it:
(1) expresses support for the declaration of a “Year of Math” in the United States;
March brings shamrocks --
luck of Irish,
let's dance and sway.
These words about the day we celebrate on March 17 are from Catherine Pulsifer, A Holiday Awaits -- one of many examples of Words of Wisdom found here. Details about the life of St. Patrick may be found here.
Recently I as delighted to learn -- from Anuj Agarwal, the founder of FeedSpot -- that this blog Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics has been selected as one of the Top 90 Math Blogs on the web (2026 Edition). And I have mentioned two others of the top 90 in my blog postings (found here).
Here is a link to the FeedSpot listings.
Another FeedSpot list to consider -- 30 best Math Teacher Blogs.
Today I am briefly reflecting on the fact that both last month and this month (2026 February and March) contain a Friday-the-13th. And those thoughts have led me to a tiny, syllable-count triangle poem.
Is
it true
that Friday
the thirteenth's an
unlucky happening?
Counting syllables
can celebrate
( in a way )
that prime
day!
Sharing a few words (found on X Twitter) from a FB post by poet Brian Bilston:
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.
This morning as I was looking online for Valentine greetings to send to my grandchildren, I found this mathy poem:
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:
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,
A few days ago I found poetic words (offered below) by G. H. Hardy (1877-1947) posted on X by @TheMathFlow -- I enjoyed not only the poem but also an exploration of various MathFlow postings -- which offer lots of delightful bits of mathematics. (Visit @TheMathFlow and enjoy!)
When I come across a title that connects math and poetry, I become interested -- and want to read more. Google helped me discover here, in China Daily, an article featuring German professor Andrea Breard entitled "Reading numbers like poetry: A journey into ancient Chinese math." She goes on to tell about some algebraic methods that were written as poems -- the rhythm allowing easier and better memorization.
Andrea Breard is a German historian of mathematics, specializing in Chinese mathematics. Her remarks took me back to my childhood when we frequently repeated "counting rhymes" as we dressed or played or whatever. "One, Two, Buckle my shoe . . ." and "Hickory, Dickory, Dock . . . the mouse ran up the clock . . ." were frequent parts of my childhood chatter.
A Contest for High School Students -- Read on to learn more . . .
Students who are 15 to 18 years old (on September 1, 2025) are invited to apply for the 2026 Steven H. Strogatz Prize for Math Communication (sponsored by MoMath, the NY Museum of Mathematics) to share their love of math with the world!
On or before April 23, 2026 projects will be accepted in the following categories:
Art, Audio, Performance, Social media, Video, and Writing.
Examples include: podcasts, articles, school newspaper columns, art exhibits, videos, websites, Instagram accounts, songs, plays, and any other mode of public communication. Detailed information is available at this link.
Entry deadline is coming soon -- February 1, 2026.
Students are invited to interview a math-woman
and write about it --
and submit the essay to the Association for Women in Mathematics
by February 1, 2026.
Guidelines (middle-school, high school, college submissions) are here.
Previous winning essays are available here (follow the link and scroll down).
Recently I came across a math-poetry article here in a newsletter published by the University of Illinois, Springfield -- an article entitled "Navigating the Intersection of Math, Poetry, and AI: The Crossroads in Helena Soares’ Pursuit." The article shares poetry by Soares -- who is a student majoring in both mathematics and English -- and also includes a brief essay by her, entitled "A journey through math, AI, and poetry." Here is a poem by Soares from that article:
Recently Google led me to a recent and fascinating article about Jordanian poet Dr. Zaina Al-Qasem, a Jordanian scholar, who combines data science with creativity and is also a published poet. For her, mathematics and poetry share thought patterns — both driven by interpretation, structure, and the search for meaning, but through different lenses.
Here are a few reflective lines of Zaina Al-Qasem's verse -- found in the article linked-to above -- lines that capture both introspection and intent.
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