Making something of nothing

     Was zero invented or discovered?  When and how?  By whom?  In "The Origin of Zero" -- an article published in 2009 in in Scientific American --  John Matson introduces an interesting history of zero (something vs. nothing and so on...).  Recently through the Splendid Wake poetry project (with an open-to-all meeting on Friday March 21 -- go here for details) I have connected with Washington DC poet William Rivera who has shared with me this poem that also examines the puzzle of the somethingness of nothing.

Nothing Changes Everything     by William Rivera

A Man-Made Universe and "found" poems

 Some poems are found rather than crafted.
It's such fun -- can happen to anyone -- 
to be reading along and find a poem. 

     This post continues (from the June 4 posting) consideration of lines that were not initially written as poetry but have been later discovered to have the desirable characteristics of a poem.
     In an early-April posting I offered a poem-in-a-photo, a poem created of book spines -- and the bottom book in my pile of six is Mathematics, the Man-Made Universe:  an Introduction to the Spirit of Mathematics by Sherman K Stein (Third Edition, Freeman, 1976).  Reprinted in 2010 in paperback format, Stein's textbook -- for a "general reader," a curious person who is not a mathematician -- has been on my shelf for many years and, though I never taught from it, I have enjoyed it and shared it with friends (and I love its title). Recently, in the opening paragraph of Stein's Chapter 19 (page 471), I found a poem:

April is . . .

April is National Mathematics Awareness Month.  The theme is SUSTAINABILITY and some ideas for learning and doing may be found here (including a rich selection of essays).
April is National Poetry Month.  One of the month's special events is a poetry contest (open to all) sponsored by the Arlington Library.  Poems for the contest are to be formed from stacked titles of CDs or books and then photographed for display.  For example:

"Two Pair" by Howard Nemerov

This poem by Howard Nemrov (1920-1991) uses scientific terminology in ways that seem especially deft:

   Two Pair

   More money's lost, old gamblers understand
   On two pair than on any other hand;