One of my favorite DC-area poet-people is Yvette Neisser Moreno -- who, besides giving us her own work, is active in translation of Spanish-language poetry into English, most recently (with Patricia Bejarano Fisher) a Spanish and English edition of Venezuelan poet Maria Teresa Ogliastri’s South Pole/Polo Sur (Settlement House, 2011). Although I have not found any mathematical poems by Moreno, I learned from an interview that the Chilean Nobelist Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) is her favorite poet and I therefore present here the geometrically vivid opening opening stanza of Part XI of Neruda's well-known long poem, The Heights of Macchu Pichu: A Bilingual Edition (The Noonday Press, 1966).
Showing posts with label poet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poet. Show all posts
Monday, August 6, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Remembering Israel Lewis Schneider
On Monday, October 17, 2011, Israel Lewis Schneider (1924-2011) -- Silver Spring poet and mechanical engineer -- passed away. I did not learn of this death until yesterday -- when my colleague, Sarah Glaz, let me know that an e-mail to him had bounced back and I went online searching for him.
It has been my pleasure to get to know "Lew" (who published poetry under the name, Israel Lewis) at local poetry readings where we connected over our common interest in poetry-with-mathematics. Lew's poem, "I Find My Faith in the Flatness of Space," appeared in the anthology Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (edited by Glaz and me) and his poem for two voices, "Cantor: Not Eddie," appeared here in this blog on 24 July 2010. Shortly after that July posting, Lew sent another poem for my review. To celebrate the life of this kind, funny, and very talented man, I offer here that poem -- with its playful examination of mathematical and other identities -- "Who Steals My Trash . . . ":
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Natural numbers
My just-previous posting tells of a Monday poetry reading I was able to attend. On Monday, May 14, a poetry reading took place that I wanted to attend but missed; poet Gary Snyder read at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Written in the 1950s and read by him here on YouTube, Gary Snyder's poem, "Hay for the Horses," involves a mathematical calculation:
Written in the 1950s and read by him here on YouTube, Gary Snyder's poem, "Hay for the Horses," involves a mathematical calculation:
Labels:
calculation,
counting,
Folger,
Gary Snyder,
mathematical,
natural number,
poet
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Celebrate Emmy Noether
On 23 March 1882 mathematician Emmy Noether (pronounced NER-ter) was born. On 23 March 2010 I posted the first entry in this blog -- an entry that included a poem, "My Dance Is Mathematics," I wrote to honor Emmy Noether; its final stanza is offered below. On 27 March 2012, The New York Times published an article that features Noether -- "The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of."
Take time today to learn about and to celebrate this not-well-enough-known and immensely talented mathematician!
Today, history books proclaim that Noether
is the greatest mathematician
her sex has produced. They say she was good
for a woman.
I cannot post today without mentioning my sadness from learning of yesterday's passing of Adrienne Rich, a favorite poet who spoke eloquently and fearlessly of the struggles of women to be and to create. I am today in San Francisco visiting a daughter and her family and here, from the San Francisco Chronicle, is a celebration of Rich's life, including the text of the poem of hers that I love most, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers."
Take time today to learn about and to celebrate this not-well-enough-known and immensely talented mathematician!
Today, history books proclaim that Noether
is the greatest mathematician
her sex has produced. They say she was good
for a woman.
I cannot post today without mentioning my sadness from learning of yesterday's passing of Adrienne Rich, a favorite poet who spoke eloquently and fearlessly of the struggles of women to be and to create. I am today in San Francisco visiting a daughter and her family and here, from the San Francisco Chronicle, is a celebration of Rich's life, including the text of the poem of hers that I love most, "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers."
Monday, November 21, 2011
Reading the Rubaiyat
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) was a mathematician who wrote poetry. Here are two quatrains from his Rubaiyat.
XLVI
For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
XLVI
For in and out, above, about, below,
'Tis nothing but a Magic Shadow-show
Play'd in a Box whose Candle is the Sun
Round which we Phantom Figures come and go.
Labels:
mathematician,
nothing,
Omar Khayyam,
poet,
poetry,
Rubaiyat
Sunday, October 30, 2011
What can 7 objects say? Or 100?
A friend, a high school art teacher, had one of her students paint a portrait of her -- not of her bodily self but a still life of the seven possessions that she felt best defined her. Since that time, more than seven years ago, I have been trying to decide what my seven objects would be. How might I portray me?
An article in today's NY Times, "Stuff that Defines Us," reminded me that I have neglected that project. The article tells of the British Museum's ambitious and fascinating project to choose 100 objects from their collection to summarize the history of the world.
An article in today's NY Times, "Stuff that Defines Us," reminded me that I have neglected that project. The article tells of the British Museum's ambitious and fascinating project to choose 100 objects from their collection to summarize the history of the world.
Labels:
Adrienne Rich,
Cento,
define,
Dylan Thomas,
E E Cummings,
mathematician,
Muriel Rukeyser,
poet,
seven,
Theodore Roethke
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Things the fingers know
Blogger Peter Cameron sent me a link to an lively article, "Eveline Pye: Poetry in Numbers" in the September 2011 issue of the statistics magazine, Significance. Written by Julian Champkin, the article tells of Eveline Pye -- lively and interesting Glasgow statistician, teacher, and poet -- and includes a selection of her work. One of the poems offered therein is "Solving Problems."
Labels:
equations,
Eveline Pye,
poet,
poetry,
problem,
Significance,
solving,
statistician,
statistics
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Hamilton -- mathematician, poet, Irishman
October 15-22 is Maths Week in Ireland -- as I learned from this article in the Irish Times celebrating maths and the Irish mathematician Willam Rowan Hamilton (1805 - 1865). Turns out that Hamilton's quaternions are useful in design of video games and 3D effects in the cinema.
Hamilton -- a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist -- was also a poet; a contemporary and friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. His poems do not speak of mathematics -- but here is a sonnet he wrote to honor Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768 – 1830), a prominent French mathematician and physicist.
Hamilton -- a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist -- was also a poet; a contemporary and friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. His poems do not speak of mathematics -- but here is a sonnet he wrote to honor Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier (1768 – 1830), a prominent French mathematician and physicist.
Labels:
astronomer,
Fourier,
Ireland,
mathematician,
maths,
Maths Week,
physicist,
poet,
quaternions,
William Rowan Hamilton
Monday, August 8, 2011
Can a mathematician see red?
Held late in July, this year's 2011 Bridges (Math-Arts) Conference in Coimbra, Portugal included a poetry reading for which I'd been invited to read but was, at the last minute, unable to attend. (See also 26 July 2011). Poets Sarah Glaz and Emily Grosholz each, however, read favorite selections from my work. Glaz read one of my square poems, "The Bear Cave" (see 19 June 2011) and Grosholz read the poem shown below, "Can a Mathematician See Red?"
Labels:
Bridges,
Coimbra,
Emily Grosholz,
F J Craveiro de Carvalho,
hollow,
inside,
JoAnne Growney,
mathematician,
outside,
poet,
points,
red,
Sarah Glaz,
sphere,
surface
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Bridges in Coimbra
Newton's binomial is as beautiful as Venus de Milo.
What happens is that few people notice it.
-- Fernando Pessoa (as Álvaro de Campos) (1888-1935)
translated from the Portuguese by Francisco Craveiro
Friday, March 4, 2011
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- V1, Issue 1
A new door has opened for those of us interested in the humanistic aspects of mathematics. Under the able leadership of editors Mark Huber (Claremont McKenna College) and Gizem Karaali (Pomona College), the idea of the former Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal has been revived and Volume 1 Issue 1 of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics is now available online. The inaugural issue contains several poems, including the following one by Caleb Emmons, "Seeing Pine Trees," in which Emmons characterizes the views of a poet and a mathematician as two halves of one whole.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
A Square for the Season
Now, near the Solstice,
we turn on bright lights
and give gifts. Oh, Sun,
please shorten our nights
with your quick return.
Season's Greetings
to mathematicians, to poets, and to all who inspire them--
from JoAnne Growney.
we turn on bright lights
and give gifts. Oh, Sun,
please shorten our nights
with your quick return.
Season's Greetings
to mathematicians, to poets, and to all who inspire them--
from JoAnne Growney.
Labels:
JoAnne Growney,
mathematician,
mathematics,
poem,
poet,
poetry,
solstice,
square
Monday, October 25, 2010
Writing poetry like mathematics
In an article about the Chilean mathematician and poet Nicanor Parra, Paul M Pearson says, : "Parra almost wrote poetry like he would a mathematical theorem using an extreme 'economy of language' with 'no metaphors, no literary figures.' " Today I present work by Nicanor Parra and Richard Aston, both of whom write their poetry with the same economy and care that are used when writing mathematics.
Labels:
arithmetic mean,
economy,
mathematician,
mathematics,
Nicanor Parra,
nothing,
plane,
poet,
poetry,
power,
precision,
Richard Aston,
Sisyphus,
whole,
zero
Saturday, October 9, 2010
"The Seventh" by Attila Jozsef
Attila József (1905-1937) is one of the most important Hungarian poets of the 20th century.
The Seventh by Attila József
If you set foot on this earth,
you must go through seven births.
Once, in a house that's burning,
once, among ice floes churning,
once, amidst madmen raving,
once, in a field of wheat swaying,
once, in a cloister, bells ringing,
once, in a pigsty a-squealing.
Six babes crying, not enough, son.
Let yourself be the seventh one.
The Seventh by Attila József
If you set foot on this earth,
you must go through seven births.
Once, in a house that's burning,
once, among ice floes churning,
once, amidst madmen raving,
once, in a field of wheat swaying,
once, in a cloister, bells ringing,
once, in a pigsty a-squealing.
Six babes crying, not enough, son.
Let yourself be the seventh one.
Labels:
Attila Jozsef,
Hungary,
mathematics,
poet,
poetry,
seven,
seventh
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
"Poetry, in other words, is mathematics"
From Tim Love, British poet and member of the Computer Systems Group in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University, I received this link -- National Poetry Day: unlock the mathematical secrets of verse -- to an article announcing the October 7 holiday in the UK. The article's author, Steve Jones (a professor of genetics at University College), goes so far as to begin his third paragraph with the sentence quoted as title to this posting. Follow the link and form your own view. Is mathematics truly important to poetry?
Labels:
mathematical,
mathematics,
palindrome,
pattern,
Phil Bolsta,
poet,
poetry,
Tim Love
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