In recent weeks I have been experimenting with poems that use mathematical terminology, wondering whether -- since there are readers who are undaunted by unknown literary references (to Dante's Divine Comedy or Eliot's Prufrock, for example) -- some readers will relish a poem with unexplained mathematical connections. In this vein I have offered "Love" (posted on on November 5) and now give the following poem, "Small Powers of Eleven are Palindromes":
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Conversational mathematics
Labels:
Catalan,
cube,
irrational,
JoAnne Growney,
language,
mathematics,
number,
palindrome,
perfect,
poem,
power,
twin primes
Monday, November 18, 2013
Counting responses
At the Poetry Foundation website, poet Audre Lorde (1934-1992) is described thus:
and her creative talent to confronting and addressing
the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia.
Here is a counting poem by this fine, bold poet:
A self-styled "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,"
writer
Audre Lorde dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing
the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia.
Here is a counting poem by this fine, bold poet:
Labels:
Audre Lorde,
counting,
injustice,
poem,
questions
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Neruda speaks of numeration
The collection, Late and Posthumous Poems, 1968-1974 (Grove Press, 1988) by Chilean Nobelist Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) offers to readers a collection of Neruda's later work, ably translated by Ben Belitt. Here is a poem that explores the vast world opened by the invention of numeration.
28325674549 by Pablo Neruda
A hand made the number.
It joined one little stone
to another, one thunderclap
to another,
one fallen eagle
to another, one
arrowhead to another,
and then with the patience of granite
the hand
made a double incision, two wounds,
and two grooves: and a
number was born.
28325674549 by Pablo Neruda
A hand made the number.
It joined one little stone
to another, one thunderclap
to another,
one fallen eagle
to another, one
arrowhead to another,
and then with the patience of granite
the hand
made a double incision, two wounds,
and two grooves: and a
number was born.
Labels:
counting,
number,
numeral,
numeration,
Pablo Neruda,
poem
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Two-line poems -- Landays -- from Afghanistan
Celebrate Activist Poetry -- At Nov. 1 Event
BE THERE on November 1, 2013 at the Goethe-Intitut in Washington DC when poet and journalist Eliza Griswold is honored with the Split this Rock Freedom Plow Award (register here for this important event) for Poetry and Activism for her work collecting and introducing the folk poems of Afghan women to America. The June issue of Poetry Magazine is entirely dedicated to landays -- two-line poems by Afghan women that capture dark, funny, and revealing moments that few outsiders ever witness. (Edited and introduced by Griswold, the poems are magnificently supplemented by photographs by Seamus Murphy.)
Here are three landays from Griswold's Poetry collection, each selected for inclusion here because it includes at least one number:
Labels:
Afghan,
Eliza Griswold,
Freedom Plow Award,
landay,
number,
poem,
Poetry Foundation,
Split This Rock
Monday, October 21, 2013
Topology for poets
The title of this posting ("Topology for Poets") comes from Maryland Poet Amy Eisner's poem "Lure" (offered below) -- a poem that plays with math concepts. (In mathematics, "topology" is a variant of geometry in two shapes are "equivalent" if one could be obtained from the other by stretching or bending.)
It was my pleasure to meet Amy when she read in the Takoma Park Third Thursday Poetry Series earlier this year. I like her work. Enjoy!
Lure by Amy Eisner
1.
My friend is crocheting a fishing line. This is not a gift and keeps no one warm.
This is withdrawing. Persisting in a flaw. Forfending.
She knows there’s something perverse in it. Like growing a mold garden.
Fishing does involve a hook, a line, and a net. But not like this.
It was my pleasure to meet Amy when she read in the Takoma Park Third Thursday Poetry Series earlier this year. I like her work. Enjoy!
Lure by Amy Eisner
1.
My friend is crocheting a fishing line. This is not a gift and keeps no one warm.
This is withdrawing. Persisting in a flaw. Forfending.
She knows there’s something perverse in it. Like growing a mold garden.
Fishing does involve a hook, a line, and a net. But not like this.
Labels:
Amy Eisner,
infinite series,
line,
mathematics,
net,
poem,
Takoma Park,
topology
Monday, October 14, 2013
"My Proteins"
The mysteries of science are sometimes explored in poems and, in this vein, I was delighted to find "My Proteins" by Jane Hirshfield (a poet whose work I like and admire) on page 56 of the September 16, 2013 issue of The New Yorker. As she explores the riddles of who she is and where she came from, she has these lines-with-numbers (stanzas 3 and 4):
from My Proteins by Jane Hirshfield
Ninety percent of my cells, they have discovered,
are not my own person,
they are other beings inside me.
As ninety-six percent of my life is not my life.
. . .
Look for the entire poem; and enjoy!
Another exploration of what the self is and isn't may be found in Hirshfield's "My Skeleton" -- today's Poem-A-Day selection from Poets.org. Jane Hirshfield's poem "Mathematics" is available here in my post for 23 June 2010.
from My Proteins by Jane Hirshfield
Ninety percent of my cells, they have discovered,
are not my own person,
they are other beings inside me.
As ninety-six percent of my life is not my life.
. . .
Look for the entire poem; and enjoy!
Another exploration of what the self is and isn't may be found in Hirshfield's "My Skeleton" -- today's Poem-A-Day selection from Poets.org. Jane Hirshfield's poem "Mathematics" is available here in my post for 23 June 2010.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Mathews retells Dowland (with permutations)
In my post for 6 September 2013 I presented Oulipian Harry Mathews' poem "Multiple Choice" -- a poem whose alternative story lines might be represented by a tree diagram. That poem was but one of 29 variations (or "Exercises in Style") by Harry Mathews as he retold again and again a tale first offered by lute-player and composer John Dowland (1563-1626), a musician whose work still finds audience today. Here is Dowland's tale, from which Matthews created 29 alternative versions. (See "Trial Impressions" in Armenian Papers, Poems 1954-1984 (Princeton University Press, 1987, out of print) and in A Mid-Season Sky: Poems 1953-1991 (Carcanet, 1992).)
Labels:
Equivoque,
Exercises in Style,
Harry Mathews,
John Dowland,
Oulipo,
permutation,
poem
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Measuring the World . . .
Yesterday afternoon, at the Goethe Institut in Washington DC, I saw a wonderful film, "Measuring the World." Based on a popular 2005 novel by Daniel Kehlmann, the story of a friendship between preeminent German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) and Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). The film offers a delightful interplay of personalities and ideas as it darts between the explorations of these two men -- one digging inside his head for mathematics and the other traveling over mountains, through jungles, across oceans.
Labels:
Alexander von Humboldt,
Carl Friedrich Gauss,
exploration,
film,
mathematics,
poem,
Sherman Stein,
sum
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Sonnet -- To Science
Edgar Allan Poe's "Sonnet -- To Science" was the "Poem-A-Day" selection of poets.org last week on September 29. The poem is in the public domain and I offer it to you below. As Poe speaks of science I wonder whether -- if he had not announced his subject -- we might as easily imagine he is speaking of poetry.
Labels:
Edgar Allan Poe,
poem,
science,
sonnet,
time
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Poetry in a math text
In the 1980s, all students at Bloomsburg University were required to take at least one mathematics course and I worked with colleagues to develop a suitable offering -- one that did not require expertise in algebra but which emphasized problem-solving. Our course became "Mathematical Thinking" -- and I began to develop suitable materials -- eventually writing and publishing Mathematics in Daily Life: Making Decisions and Solving Problems (McGraw-Hill, 1986). Each of the twenty-two chapters of this textbook is introduced with a relevant quote. Chapter 11, "Visualizing the Structure of Information with a Tree Diagram," opens with two lines by one of my favorite poets, Theodore Roethke:
Once upon a tree
I came across a time.
Once upon a tree
I came across a time.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Out of 100 -- in the Klondike Gold Rush
Adding to my recent post on 19 August I note that OEDILF is seeking submissions.
Join the project: submit limerick definitions of (math) terms for OEDILF consideration.
Join the project: submit limerick definitions of (math) terms for OEDILF consideration.
One of my favorite poets is the 1996 Nobelist Wislawa Szymborska (1923 - 2012, Poland); one of my favorites of her poems is "A Contribution to Statistics." Szymborska's poem served as a model for a poem of mine shown below, about Gold Rush Days in Skagway, Alaska. Written while I was poet-in-residence at Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, (in Skagway), this poem draws on historical data from the park's library to paint a bleak picture of wealth and survival in those gold-mad days.
Counting in the Klondike by JoAnne Growney
after Wisława Szymborska
Of 100 who left Seattle for Skagway in 1898
40 made it to the gold fields
8 found gold.
Labels:
100,
Alaska,
Gold Rush,
Klondike,
OEDILF,
poem,
poet,
Skagway,
statistics,
Wislawa Szymborska
Friday, August 16, 2013
Pushkin inspires Seth -- novels in verse
My enjoyment of novels in verse began to thrive when a friend and I determined to get into Vikram's Seth's The Golden Gate (Random House, 1986) by taking turns reading its sonnets aloud to each other. After several dozen aloud, I could hear the voice even when I read silently and I went on to finish alone. And I loved it. I have gone on to enjoy several more works by Seth -- none of them poems but all wonderful stories, well told.
Seth has said that he was moved to write by the novel Alexander Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin noted here on 10 August 2013 -- a novel of interest to mathematicians because of its link to Markov Chains. Seth's novel (reviewed here) also was made into an opera. These first two stanzas -- each containing the numbers 26 and 1980 -- introduce the novel's computer-guy, John:
Seth has said that he was moved to write by the novel Alexander Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin noted here on 10 August 2013 -- a novel of interest to mathematicians because of its link to Markov Chains. Seth's novel (reviewed here) also was made into an opera. These first two stanzas -- each containing the numbers 26 and 1980 -- introduce the novel's computer-guy, John:
Labels:
Alexander Pushkin,
Eugene Onegin,
Markov chain,
number,
poem,
sonnet,
The Golden Gate,
Vikram Seth
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Feynman Point poems
The Feynman Point is a sequence of six 9s that occurs in the decimal expansion of π -- these 9s are found in positions 762 - 767 following the decimal point. When writing in Pilish (using word-lengths that correspond to digits of π), the Feynman Point offers a particular challenge since 9-letter words are infrequent. I learned about the Feynman Point here. AND I found a splendid database that makes the difficult task of choosing 6 9-letter words easily doable. Here is my first Feynman Point poem:
Scratchers sleepwalk --
seriously screening sentences,
slantwise.
Mike Keith's Pilish short story, Cadeic Cadenza, has this Feynman Point:
Scratchers sleepwalk --
seriously screening sentences,
slantwise.
Mike Keith's Pilish short story, Cadeic Cadenza, has this Feynman Point:
Labels:
digit,
Feynman Point,
pi,
Pilish,
poem,
probability
Monday, August 5, 2013
Poetry on Back Roads -- Stillwater Festival
On Saturday, September 7, a poetry festival will happen in Stillwater, PA (a small town not far from Bloomsburg where I lived and professored for many years). From noon to 9 at the Stillwater Memorial Park (63 McHenry Street (Rt 487) Stillwater, PA), organized by Kevin Clark, held in a revival-style tent, the the reading will have nature and agriculture as its theme -- and featured poets will include Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Sheryl St Germain, and Jack Troy. (And there will be two open mic sessions.)
Offered below are two poems by festival participants -- these are poems of numbers and travels (and more): "Double the Digits" by Penn State poet, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, and "Tag Clouds," by Stillwater festival organizer, Kevin Clark (contact using StillwaterPoetry-at-yahoo-dot-com).
Offered below are two poems by festival participants -- these are poems of numbers and travels (and more): "Double the Digits" by Penn State poet, Julia Spicher Kasdorf, and "Tag Clouds," by Stillwater festival organizer, Kevin Clark (contact using StillwaterPoetry-at-yahoo-dot-com).
Labels:
digits,
festival,
Julia Spicher Kasdorf,
Kevin Clark,
poem,
poetry,
Stillwater
Friday, August 2, 2013
Nursery Rhyme Mathematics
During the last week of July I was in California, vacationing with family (including six of my grandchildren). Most of these kids have grown past a fascination with nursery rhymes, but I still like them -- and think it's likely that memorization of rhymes helps with learning to read and count.
Here is one of my favorites, "A Diller, a Dollar."
Here is one of my favorites, "A Diller, a Dollar."
Labels:
counting,
dollar,
grandchildren,
mathematics,
poem,
rhyme,
St Ives
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Number personalities
In his collection, Zero, Scottish poet Brian McCabe raises questions about numerical classifications. He begins "The Fifth Season" with "Everyone talks of the four / -- none speak of the fifth." Another poem, "The Seventh Sense, " moves from a similar beginning " . . . none speak of the seventh" into a dreamy apprehension of the magical possibilities of items not yet classified. The following selection from Zero, "Triskaidekaphobia," offers remedies for the fear of bad luck brought by 13.
Labels:
Brian McCabe,
five senses,
four seasons,
luck,
number,
poem,
thirteen,
triskaidekaphobia,
zero
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
A poem with two numbers
My friend Carol Ann Heckman has studied with Denise Levertov and feeds voraciously on her work. For many years I have loved Levertov's "The Secret" and today, rereading an email from Carol Ann, I went looking for a mathy poem by this beloved poet. I found the following -- with two numbers (and a hint of recursion):
The Mockingbird of Mockingbirds by Denise Levertov
A greyish bird
the size perhaps of two plump sparrows,
fallen in some field,
soon flattened, a dry
mess of feathers--
and no one knows
this was a prince among his kind,
virtuoso of virtuosos,
lord of a thousand songs,
debonair, elaborate in invention, fantasist,
rival of nightingales.
This poem rests on my bookshelf in Levertov's collection, Breathing the Water (New Directions, 1987).
The Mockingbird of Mockingbirds by Denise Levertov
A greyish bird
the size perhaps of two plump sparrows,
fallen in some field,
soon flattened, a dry
mess of feathers--
and no one knows
this was a prince among his kind,
virtuoso of virtuosos,
lord of a thousand songs,
debonair, elaborate in invention, fantasist,
rival of nightingales.
This poem rests on my bookshelf in Levertov's collection, Breathing the Water (New Directions, 1987).
Labels:
Denise Levertov,
mockingbird,
numbers,
poem,
secret,
thousand,
two
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Calculus (and calyculus)
For lots of years I have subscribed to A.Word.A.Day, founded by Anu Garg, and on 3 June 2013 -- offered in the category of "words that appear to be misspellings" -- the word that appeared in my email was calyculus (kuh-LIK-yuh-luhs), a noun designating a cup-shaped structure. From this, of course, my thoughts turned to calculus and to poems on that subject. Below I offer "UR-CALCULUS" by Jonathan Holden. This Kansan poet has said that that his physicist father would write equations while sitting at the dining room table -- and "UR-CALCULUS" considers mathematics from a boy-riding-in-the-back-seat-of-a-car point of view.
UR-CALCULUS by Jonathan Holden
The child is the father of the man.
-- W. W. Wordsworth
Back then, "Calculus"
was a scary college word,
and yet we studied it
from the back seat, we studied
the rates at which
the roadside trees went striding
UR-CALCULUS by Jonathan Holden
The child is the father of the man.
-- W. W. Wordsworth
Back then, "Calculus"
was a scary college word,
and yet we studied it
from the back seat, we studied
the rates at which
the roadside trees went striding
Labels:
Anu Garg,
calculus,
calyculus,
continuous,
Jonathan Holden,
mathematics,
measure,
poem,
position,
predict,
rate
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Symmetric squares
Sometimes we find meaning among disparate objects when they are juxtaposed. Here are nine words I have chosen because of the ways they are spelled. Using them to form two squares. Are my squares poems?
S A F E
A R E A
F E A R
E A R N
S A F E
A R E A
F E A R
E A R N
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Balancing an Equation
I grew up on a farm and spent my middle life in a small town and now live in a city. A sort of immigrant. A farm girl who became a professor. A balancing act.
Some years back, one of my math department colleagues posted on his office door a quote from George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) :
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists
in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends
on the unreasonable man.
At one time I much agreed with the Shaw quote. Now (perhaps because I am older or because I now live near to Washington, DC and contentious party politics) I am more admiring of balance than unreasonableness. Here is a lovely poem by Caroline Caddy about balance and numbers.
Some years back, one of my math department colleagues posted on his office door a quote from George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) :
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists
in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends
on the unreasonable man.
At one time I much agreed with the Shaw quote. Now (perhaps because I am older or because I now live near to Washington, DC and contentious party politics) I am more admiring of balance than unreasonableness. Here is a lovely poem by Caroline Caddy about balance and numbers.
Labels:
balance,
Caroline Caddy,
difficult,
equation,
logic,
math,
numbers,
poem,
unreasonable
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