GEOMETRY IN POETRY
Warning: even if you are not a mathy person, you will like the poem offered below!
When a writer picks up her pen and starts to write, the initial phrases may be simply a ramble -- a pouring out of thoughts that might be able to be shaped into a poem. Over the centuries, writers have used syllable-counts and patterns of rhyme to help them shape their word into the best-possible expressions.Earlier in this blog (in this 2016 posting) is a poem created by Black Hills State University mathematician Daniel May using a geometric structure called a Fano Plane. I offer below another similarly-structured creation by May -- and, after the poem, a bit of explanation.
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| Fano Plane diagram |
Sunset : October 11th by Daniel May
it's late in the day and we’ve climbed up this rise.
i stare, too closely, into the
leaving of the light streaming through the treetops
from the next ridge over.
later, i'll wonder if looking into the sun makes me crazy,
or gives me secret terrible knowledge.
my last willful act will be staring directly into our star,
and it will be like burial at sun.
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