This year's math-arts conference, Bridges 2014, was in Korea. And a dozen of us who write poetry-with-mathematics -- unable to attend in person -- worked with coordinator Sarah Glaz to offer (on August 16, hosted by Mike Naylor) a virtual reading of work videotaped in advance by the poets and edited into a coherent whole by Steve Stamps.
The virtual reading is here on YouTube.
Showing posts with label poetry reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry reading. Show all posts
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Wartime recurrence
In mathematics, it is not unusual to define an entity using a recurrence relation.
For example, in defining powers of a positive integer:
The 2nd power of 7 may be defined as 7 x 71 ;
the 3rd power of 7 may be defined as 7 times 72,
and the 4th power is 7 times 73,
and, in general, for any positive integer n, 7n+1 = 7 x 7n.
Several weeks ago I attended a reading of fine poetry here in Silver Spring at the Nora School -- a reading that featured DC-area poets Judith Bowles, Luther Jett, and David McAleavey. I was delighted to hear in "Recessional" -- one of the poems presented that evening by Jett -- the mathematical pattern of recurrence, building stepwise with a potentially infinite number of steps (as with the powers of 7, above) into a powerful poem. I include it below:
For example, in defining powers of a positive integer:
The 2nd power of 7 may be defined as 7 x 71 ;
the 3rd power of 7 may be defined as 7 times 72,
and the 4th power is 7 times 73,
and, in general, for any positive integer n, 7n+1 = 7 x 7n.
Several weeks ago I attended a reading of fine poetry here in Silver Spring at the Nora School -- a reading that featured DC-area poets Judith Bowles, Luther Jett, and David McAleavey. I was delighted to hear in "Recessional" -- one of the poems presented that evening by Jett -- the mathematical pattern of recurrence, building stepwise with a potentially infinite number of steps (as with the powers of 7, above) into a powerful poem. I include it below:
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Four colors will do
As I work with Gizem Karaali, an editor of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, to plan a reading of mathematical poetry at the JMM (Joint Mathematics Meetings) in Boston on 6 January 2012, my thoughts return to a poetry reading that I helped to organize at JMM in Baltimore in 1992. One of the participants was a friend and former colleague, Frank Bernhart, whose work is guided by the rhythm pattern of a well-known song.
Bernhart is an expert on the Four-Color Theorem and his poem celebrates its history -- including consideration of its proof (in 1976) by Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken. (The theorem asserts that any map drawn on a flat surface or on a sphere requires only 4 colors to ensure that no regions sharing a boundary segment have the same color.)
Bernhart is an expert on the Four-Color Theorem and his poem celebrates its history -- including consideration of its proof (in 1976) by Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken. (The theorem asserts that any map drawn on a flat surface or on a sphere requires only 4 colors to ensure that no regions sharing a boundary segment have the same color.)
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