A cento is a literary work made from quotations from other works -- most often it is a poem, assembled from lines by other poets. Below I have created a cento from lines written by the poets who have been invited to participate in the July 30 Poetry Reading at the 2017 Bridges Math-Arts Conference in Waterloo, Ontario. A wonderful program is planned -- it's not too late to register and join us.
All is number, mysterious proportions
Like Egyptians burying gold with the dead
Golden Fear
that divides and leaves no remainder
Showing posts sorted by date for query Carol Dorf. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query Carol Dorf. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Monday, July 17, 2017
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Euclid's Iron Hand
Alice Major is a Canadian poet who admits to having loved mathematics since girlhood and who often includes mathematical ideas and images in her poems. The first poet laureate of Edmonton, Alberta, Major has been instrumental in spreading a love of poetry in many directions and venues. The selection below, "Euclid's Iron Hand," first appeared in Wild Equations, the Spring 2016 issue of Talking-Writing, an online journal that also in 2012 featured math-related poems and an essay by TW editor, Carol Dorf, "Why Poets Sometimes Think in Numbers."
Euclid's Iron Hand by Alice Major
My iron cannot cope
with non-Euclidean geometry.
Antique and irritable, it insists
on plane surfaces and the fifth postulate,
hissing, Lie down flat, goddamit.
Both Alice Major and Carol Dorf are part of the Poetry Reading
at this summer's BRIDGES Math-Arts Conference July 27-31 in Waterloo, Ontario.
Will we see you there?
Euclid's Iron Hand by Alice Major
My iron cannot cope
with non-Euclidean geometry.
Antique and irritable, it insists
on plane surfaces and the fifth postulate,
hissing, Lie down flat, goddamit.
Friday, November 18, 2016
A well-constructed language
California math teacher, poet and editor, Carol Dorf is a vital force in the production and dissemination of mathy poems. A blog SEARCH using her name will find links to all of my mentions of her activity. Here is one such link -- to my list of titles of mathy poems in Talking-Writing, an online journal for which Dorf is poetry editor. Dorf's poem below speaks of Ada Lovelace, a math-woman who has been featured herein on July 16, 2015 and September 18, 2015.
Mathematics is "a well-constructed language." |
Dorf's "Ada" first appeared in Volume 14 of The Mom Egg Review.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
A Fib (a perfect circle) -- and some math-po links
1 Not
1 one
2 circle
3 is perfect
5 yet the idea
8 of circle's useful every day.
The beauty of images and the ideas they represent is central in both mathematics and poetry. A wonderful resource for works that join these two is the literary website TalkingWriting,com -- whose poetry editor is Carol Dorf, also a math teacher. Here is a link to a wonderful TW essay from a few years back, "Math Girl Fights Back" by Karen J Ohlson. This article by Dorf, "Why Poets Sometimes think in Numbers," introduces a 2012 collection of mathy poems. Another collection was posted in the Spring 2016 issue. In addition, at the TalkingWriting website, you can enter the search term "math" -- as I did -- and be offered 5 pages of links to consider.
Labels:
Carol Dorf,
circle,
Karen Ohlson,
perfect,
talkingwriting.com
Friday, September 9, 2016
Division by Zero
At Victoria University in Melbourne, novelist, playwright and poet Tom Petsinis also teaches mathematics. He participated in the 2016 Bridges Math-Arts Conference in Finland this summer: here are two of his poems from the 2016 Bridges Poetry Anthology -- and each of them plays with mathematical ideas in new and thoughtful (sometimes amusing) ways. "Zeno's Paradox" follows this initial poem. (Names and links for other anthology poets are given below.)
Division by Zero by Tom Petsinis
She could’ve been our grandmother
Warning us of poisonous mushrooms ‒
To stress her point she'd scratch
The taboo bold with crimson chalk.
It should never be used to divide,
Or we'd be howled from lined yard
To pit where cruel paradoxes ruled.
Her warnings tempted us even more:
Young, growing full in confidence,
We’d prove the impossible for fun ‒
Nothing she said could restrain us
From showing two is equal to one.
Division by Zero by Tom Petsinis
She could’ve been our grandmother
Warning us of poisonous mushrooms ‒
To stress her point she'd scratch
The taboo bold with crimson chalk.
It should never be used to divide,
Or we'd be howled from lined yard
To pit where cruel paradoxes ruled.
Her warnings tempted us even more:
Young, growing full in confidence,
We’d prove the impossible for fun ‒
Nothing she said could restrain us
From showing two is equal to one.
Labels:
Australia,
Bridges,
Tom Petsinis,
Zeno,
zero
Monday, August 15, 2016
Find math-poetry links in BRIDGES archives
As noted in last week's posts, the annual international math-arts festival, BRIDGES, recently was held in Finland. Now the archives of papers presented there are available at this link.
One of the programs related to poetry was a workshop by poet Tom Petsinis of Melbourne, “Mathematics Through the Matrix of Poetry,” archived here.
Using the SEARCH box (beneath the list of years in the left column) and entering the term “poem” led me to a total of 28 hits. Explore! Enjoy!!
One of the programs related to poetry was a workshop by poet Tom Petsinis of Melbourne, “Mathematics Through the Matrix of Poetry,” archived here.
Past BRIDGES conferences have also included
a variety of poetry-math connections.
For example, in 2015, "Composing Mathematical Poetry" by Carol Dorf,
“Visualizing Rhyme Patterns in Sonnet Sequences” by Hartmut F. W. Hoft,
and a few remarks from me, “Inspire Math-Girls-Women (perhaps with poems)”.
a variety of poetry-math connections.
For example, in 2015, "Composing Mathematical Poetry" by Carol Dorf,
“Visualizing Rhyme Patterns in Sonnet Sequences” by Hartmut F. W. Hoft,
and a few remarks from me, “Inspire Math-Girls-Women (perhaps with poems)”.
Using the SEARCH box (beneath the list of years in the left column) and entering the term “poem” led me to a total of 28 hits. Explore! Enjoy!!
Thursday, August 11, 2016
More from BRIDGES poets . . .
The 2016 BRIDGES Math-Arts Conference
is currently taking place at the University of Jyväskylä in Jyväskylä, Finland. Poets on this year's program include: Manfred Stern, Vera Schwarcz, Eveline Pye, Tom Petsinis, Mike Naylor, Alice Major, Emily Grosholz, Carol Dorf, Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya, Madhur Anand and the organizer, Sarah Glaz.
Although he is not a participant in this year's BRIDGES, the name of Portuguese mathematician, poet, and translator Francisco José Craveiro de Carvalho appears near the top of the conference's poetry page for his translation of these lines that have become a sort of motto for BRIDGES poetry:
Newton's binomial is as beautiful as Venus de Milo.
What happens is that few people notice it.
--Fernando Pessoa (as Álvaro de Campos)
translated from the Portuguese by Francisco Craveiro
Although he is not a participant in this year's BRIDGES, the name of Portuguese mathematician, poet, and translator Francisco José Craveiro de Carvalho appears near the top of the conference's poetry page for his translation of these lines that have become a sort of motto for BRIDGES poetry:
Newton's binomial is as beautiful as Venus de Milo.
What happens is that few people notice it.
--Fernando Pessoa (as Álvaro de Campos)
translated from the Portuguese by Francisco Craveiro
Labels:
Bridges,
F. J. Craveiro de Carvalho,
Katharine O'Brien,
Newton,
Pessoa
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Talking-Writing offers Math Poems
In recent weeks, the online journal Talking-Writing has been featuring math poems and last Monday they posted my "Skagway Study" -- which follows a style explored in one of my favorite poems by Wislawa Szymborska.
Carol Dorf, poetry editor of Talking-Writing, is a math teacher as well as a poet and her work as well as those of others with math interest are explored in "Wild Equations," the Spring 2016 Issue of Talking-Writing. Here are some links:
Bays with a Stream and Another Both Flowing
All Through Them along Enfolded Paths)"
Earlier this week in an American Mathematical Society blog posting entitled "Math and Verbal Gymnastics," Duquesne University mathematician Anna Haensch also celebrated the join of mathematics and poetry.
Carol Dorf, poetry editor of Talking-Writing, is a math teacher as well as a poet and her work as well as those of others with math interest are explored in "Wild Equations," the Spring 2016 Issue of Talking-Writing. Here are some links:
By Giavanna Munafo
"Twenty-Four Hours"
By JoAnne Growney "Skagway Study"
By Alice Major
"Euclid's Iron Hand" and "Bird Singularities"
By Amy Uyematsu "Three Quick Studies of Math-Art"
By Carol Dorf "Action Potential" and "e"
By Eveline Pye "Celestial Navigation," "Three," and "The Law of Statistics"
By Larry Lesser "Margins"
By Katie Manning "28, 065 Nights" and "Week by Week" (Fibonacci poem)
By Stephanie Strickland
"Doomed calculations which God acknowledged
Islands (Invaginated by SaltwaterBays with a Stream and Another Both Flowing
All Through Them along Enfolded Paths)"
Earlier this week in an American Mathematical Society blog posting entitled "Math and Verbal Gymnastics," Duquesne University mathematician Anna Haensch also celebrated the join of mathematics and poetry.
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Imagine a Fractal
California poet Carol Dorf is also a math teacher and is poetry editor of the online journal TalkingWriting. In the most recent issue of Talking-Writing is this fascinating poem by Brooklyn poet, Nicole Callihan, "How to Imagine a Fractal." Enjoy Callihan's poetic play with recursion and infinite nesting -- be lulled by the back and forth of forever.
How to Imagine a Fractal by Nicole Callihan
Carol Dorf's work has appeared in this blog:
Her fan-letter to the author of a math book is here
and a poem about fear of math is posted here.
Labels:
Carol Dorf,
finite,
fractal,
infinite,
Nicole Callihan,
prose poem,
recursion,
space,
talkingwriting.com
Monday, January 13, 2014
Writing mathy poems - a student activity
On the web-page of mathematician-poet Sarah Glaz I found a link to this file of math-related poems that she prompted students to write when she visited an Arcadia University class session of "Truth and Beauty: A Course in Mathematics and Literature" taught by mathematician-poet Marion Cohen. The writing was prompted by an activity-list developed by mathematician-poet Carol Dorf. Poems by Whitney Boeckel and Olivia Lantz particularly caught my eye and, with their permission, I present them here:
Thursday, September 19, 2013
BRIDGES poems, from 17 poets
Due to the hard work of mathematician-poet Sarah Glaz, poetry has been an important part of recent BRIDGES-Math-Art Conferences. And, under her editing, a Bridges 2013 Poetry Anthology has been released, featuring poetry from these poets who participated in one or more of the three most recent BRIDGES conferences (Enschede, Netherlands, 2013; Towson, Maryland, 2012; Coimbra, Portugal, 2011).
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Poets at BRIDGES
These seven poets will be reading math-related poems at the upcoming (July 27-31) BRIDGES Conference in Enschede, the Netherlands; biographical information about the coordinator, Sarah Glaz, and each of the poets is available here. With each poet's name I have offer a date that is linked to one of my postings of his/her work:
Michael Bartholomew-Biggs 19 October 2012
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya 10 March 2013
Carol Dorf 31 May 2011
Sarah Glaz 7 November 2011
Emily Grosholz 24 September 2010
Alice Major 30 December 2012
Eveline Pye 12 April 2012
Here (and also to be offered at BRIDGES) is an elegant and thoughtful poem by Alice Major -- "For Mary, Turning Sixty" -- that compares mathematical meanings of terms with personal ones.
Michael Bartholomew-Biggs 19 October 2012
Tatiana Bonch-Osmolovskaya 10 March 2013
Carol Dorf 31 May 2011
Sarah Glaz 7 November 2011
Emily Grosholz 24 September 2010
Alice Major 30 December 2012
Eveline Pye 12 April 2012
Here (and also to be offered at BRIDGES) is an elegant and thoughtful poem by Alice Major -- "For Mary, Turning Sixty" -- that compares mathematical meanings of terms with personal ones.
Labels:
Alice Major,
arithmetic,
Bridges Conference,
composite,
counting,
decimal,
divisor,
measure,
sexadecimal,
sixty
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Is your favorite poet a mathematician?
The Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston last week gave a fine opportunity for me to connect with both mathematicians and poets, old friends and new ones. And to enjoy a celebration of the connections between poetry and mathematics. In the January 6 poetry reading sponsored by the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, there was much fine poetry. Several of the poems were by Carol Dorf -- whose work was read by Elizabeth Langosy, executive editor of the online literary magazine, TalkingWriting. Good reads in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of TalkingWriting include both Dorf's introduction to some featured math-connected poems -- entitled "Why Poets Sometimes Think in Numbers" -- and Langosy's impressions of the math-poetry reading.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Poetry heard at JMM
In Boston on Friday evening, January 6, at the 2012 Joint Mathematics Meetings, these folks gathered and read -- for a delighted audience in Room 312 of Hynes Convention Center -- some poems of mathematics.
Poets who submitted work in advance and were on the "Poetry with Mathematics" program included:
Jacqueline Lapidus, Judith Johnson, Rosanna Iembo (accompanied by the violin of her daughter Irene Iaccarino), Charlotte Henderson, Carol Dorf (read by Elizabeth Langosy), Sandra Coleman, Marion Cohen, Tatiana Bonch (read by John Hiigli), Harry Baker (via video presented by reading organizer Gizem Karaali -- an editor of the online Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, which sponsored the the reading), and JoAnne Growney (also an organizer of the reading).
Participants during an "open reading" included:
Mary Buchinger, Chris Caragianis, Rip Coleman, Seth Goldberg, Joshua Holden, Ann Perbohner, Pedro Poitevin, and Jason Samuels.
Poets who submitted work in advance and were on the "Poetry with Mathematics" program included:
Jacqueline Lapidus, Judith Johnson, Rosanna Iembo (accompanied by the violin of her daughter Irene Iaccarino), Charlotte Henderson, Carol Dorf (read by Elizabeth Langosy), Sandra Coleman, Marion Cohen, Tatiana Bonch (read by John Hiigli), Harry Baker (via video presented by reading organizer Gizem Karaali -- an editor of the online Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, which sponsored the the reading), and JoAnne Growney (also an organizer of the reading).
Participants during an "open reading" included:
Mary Buchinger, Chris Caragianis, Rip Coleman, Seth Goldberg, Joshua Holden, Ann Perbohner, Pedro Poitevin, and Jason Samuels.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
This plane of earthly love
Poet Joan Mazza celebrates qualities mathematical:
To a Mathematician Lover by Joan Mazza
As we embark on this plane
of earthly love, I should explain,
my experiences with men
have doubled my troubles
and halved my pleasures,
divided my time into fractions
To a Mathematician Lover by Joan Mazza
As we embark on this plane
of earthly love, I should explain,
my experiences with men
have doubled my troubles
and halved my pleasures,
divided my time into fractions
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Fear of math
California poet Carol Dorf is a high school math teacher (and has taught in a science museum) -- and images from math and science permeate her work. An article on math anxiety (and its connections to the brain) in today's Washington Post brought to my mind this poem of hers:
Labels:
Carol Dorf,
fear,
hexagons,
math anxiety,
mathematicians,
mathematics,
poem,
poetry,
tesselate
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Poems starring mathematicians - 4
Each of today's poems is in the voice of a student who looks back. First, from Carol Dorf, a poem to the author of a book--written as a fan-letter, "Dear Ivar." And then, for his hero (a special Grammar School teacher) by Czech poet and scientist Miroslav Holub (1923-98), "The Fraction Line."
Dear Ivar,
I read your book on the unexpected.
Like most poets, I opposed mathematics
when I was young, seeing it as the converse
to feeling. The previous statement is false.
Labels:
accuracy,
Carol Dorf,
catastrophe,
converse,
fraction,
fraction line,
instability,
Miroslav Holub,
one-to-one,
precise
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