Intersections -- Poetry with Mathematics

Mathematical language can heighten the imagery of a poem; mathematical structure can deepen its effect. Feast here on an international menu of poems made rich by mathematical ingredients . . . . . . . gathered by JoAnne Growney. To receive email notifications of new postings, contact JoAnne at joannegrowney@gmail.com.

Monday, February 28, 2022

A Picture is worth 1000 words . . .

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     Tomorrow, March 1, we begin Women's History Month .  Join in celebration of math people with the Mathematician Poster Project   -- ...
Friday, February 25, 2022

Black boys at the blackboard doing math . . .

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     Last Wednesday evening the WordWorks-sponsored poetry reading , "Poets vs the Pandemic," brought back to my attention Pennsyl...
Monday, February 21, 2022

Reduce stress in math class -- write a poem

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        Recently I have come across a website for the New England Literary Resources Center -- and one of the suggestions offered for manag...
Thursday, February 17, 2022

February -- National Haiku-writing Month

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     Whether to satisfy particular constraints when writing a poem is an idea that is very important to poets.  Some think that following st...
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Sunday, February 13, 2022

Celebrate with a MATHY Valentine

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 Celebrate Valentine's Day with mathy verse! Follow this link to see the variety of examples in previous posts.
Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Seven-line Fibs

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 In a previous post (on 2/2/2222) , I shared a link to dozens of Fibs; today I offer a Fib variation -- this time with 7 lines.      Daughte...
Monday, February 7, 2022

The Poetry of Science

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     Poet and teacher Sam Illingworth does much to celebrate the links between poetry and the sciences.  He is the founder of Consilience ,...
Friday, February 4, 2022

Words from Martin Luther King Jr.

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     During this Black History Month or any month, Martin Luther King Jr is a man to remember and to honor.  His words have appeared in thes...
Wednesday, February 2, 2022

New issue -- Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

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     The online, open-access Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (JHM) publishes new issues twice each year -- and the first issue for 2022 i...
Monday, January 31, 2022

Math Communicators also are important

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A posting early this month featured the noted Indian mathematician Ramanujan (1887-1920) who was mentored by the British mathematician G. ...
Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Keep Exploring . . .

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     In addition to its published magazine, Scientific American has a large variety of blogs .  One of my favorites was Roots of Unity by ...
Thursday, January 20, 2022

Celebrating mathematics with song . . .

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     Some of the most memorable links between mathematics and the arts are found in song-lyrics.  For example, "That's Mathematics...
Monday, January 17, 2022

Eyes on the Prize

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     Today, the 3rd Monday in January, we celebrate the birthday of civil rights leader, Rev Martin Luther King, Jr, , (1929-1968) -- and I ...
Thursday, January 13, 2022

+ plus magazine . . . living mathematics

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     One of the very fine sources of interesting and new ideas from mathematics is +plus magazine -- available since 1997 from the Universi...
Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Write to learn ... follow constraints ... find poems

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     Some people (myself included) take lots of notes during a lecture or other program -- for it seems that the physical activity of placin...
Thursday, January 6, 2022

Mathematics gives our world its shape . . . fractals

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     Poet  Robin Chapman  and  Julien Clinton Sprott  both were professors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when their art-poetry coll...
Monday, January 3, 2022

India's National Math Day -- Poetic Quotes

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     A recent math holiday that I remembered after it had passed is National Mathematics Day in India -- held on December 22 and celebratin...
Friday, December 31, 2021

Year-end Counting -- with Gratitude

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     Year      ends.      I count --      and count on --      mathy poems shared      here by countless poets. THANK YOU!
Monday, December 27, 2021

Amid uncertainties -- compose a Fib

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How many Corona-virus cases will the new year bring? Stop, Think!        Wonder What to say . . . I gather my thoughts and hope I can make a...
Monday, December 20, 2021

Christmas is coming . . .

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     This morning I did a blog search to see which of my previous posts included the word "Christmas" -- and this link leads to th...
Wednesday, December 15, 2021

One-sentence Poems

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     Recently I came across the website onesentencepoems.com and, enjoying the items' brevity, I did some browsing -- and term-searchin...
Monday, December 13, 2021

Mathematician with the Soul of a Poet

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      One of my long-time math-poetry connections has been with math-teacher-artist-writer Sandra DeLozier Coleman ( This link leads to her...
Wednesday, December 8, 2021

STEM Writing Contests -- reminders . . .

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WRITING deepens UNDERSTANDING ! For the reason above -- and for the possibility of winning recognition and prizes --  please consider the fo...
Monday, December 6, 2021

Stories of Quadrilaterals

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     Sometimes I have time to browse my shelves and rediscover old favorites.  Several of this blog's much-read poems have come from Sco...
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Thursday, December 2, 2021

Divided -- for facial recognition

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Recently-retired Virginia dentist Eric Forsbergh sent me a mathy poem about the fascinating -- and controversial  -- process of facial reco...
Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Art / Poem / Numbers (posted 7/14/13, then lost)

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     Recently I discovered a typo in my posting on July 14, 2013 of "Poem 25" by Kurt Schwitters.  My attempt to fix my typo led t...
Monday, November 29, 2021

Sometimes ONE is also TWO

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     A long-time supporter of this blog and of math-poetry connections is Gregory Coxson , Research Engineer at the US Naval Academy-- and h...
Monday, November 22, 2021

Equation Poetry

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     The term "Equation Poetry" is the title of an article by Radoslav Rochallyi   -- and posted on 11/9/ 2021 here in the MATH VA...
Thursday, November 18, 2021

MANIFOLD: Poetry Inspired by Mathematics

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     One of my recent pleasant pastimes has been spending time with MANIFOLD:  Poetry of Mathematics  by E R Lutken .   This poet's exp...
Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Aelindromes -- and Pi

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     On Twitter, I have seen frequent posts by UK-based writer Anthony Etherin -- and, encouraged by mathy poet Marian Christie , I have fo...
Wednesday, November 10, 2021

After loss we have nothing--which is something ...

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     A poet whose work I much admire is A. E. Stallings -- born in the US, in Georgia, but now living in Greece.  This poem -- a sonnet -- ...
Monday, November 8, 2021

A Hundred Thousand Billion Poems

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 Celebrate Raymond Queneau (1903-1976).      In a recent posting, mathy blogger Ben Orlin noted ( here in Math with Bad Drawings )  that 20...
Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Enjoy the Possibilities in a Multiple-Choice Poem

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     Just as a test-taker mulls over which answer is correct, a poet mulls over word choices and what should come next.  South Dakota math...
Monday, November 1, 2021

Interview a Math Woman -- then Write and Win . . .

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     Amalie "Emmy" Noether (1885-1932) is one of the outstanding mathematicians of all-time -- and yet, during her lifetime she g...
Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Halloween Poems

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            Double, double toil and trouble;             Fire burn and caldron bubble.             Cool it with a baboon's blood,       ...
Monday, October 25, 2021

Visual Mathematical Poetry

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          A wonderful place to visit -- and to stay for a while -- is the blog maintained by Kazmier Maslanka, Mathematical Poetry , found h...
Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Inspired by Ten

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      Here is an intriguing poem by Massachusetts poet Ellen Wehle that focuses on ten ;  it is one of the works collected in Strange Attra...
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Monday, October 18, 2021

Maths and Poetry: Beauty is the Link

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     One of the American Mathematical Society's pre-Covid Programs for students was a MATH POETRY Contest -- and details and resources a...
Wednesday, October 13, 2021

A(nother) blog that celebrates Math-and-Poetry

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      Recently I have come to know another strong advocate of math-poetry connections.  Marian Christie ( read about her here ) has had long...
Monday, October 11, 2021

Global Math Week -- in 2021, October 10-16

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      The week of October 10-16, 2021 has been proclaimed as GLOBAL MATH WEEK 2021.  At this link is offered a list of math-celebration acti...
Tuesday, October 5, 2021

STEM Writing Contest for ages 11-19 (NYTimes)

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A recent item from The Learning Network in the New York Times announces their 3rd annual STEM Writing Contest -- with submission dates, Fe...
Monday, October 4, 2021

Presenting Gauss in Verse

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     German mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855) is one of history's most prolific and influential mathematicians -- and he i...
Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Opposites -- in Life as in Mathematics

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        Recently on NPR I heard an engaging interview with poet Kevin Young about his new collection Stones -- about memory and loss, and ...
Monday, September 27, 2021

Geometry of a Neighborhood

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      As we walk around, our views of our surroundings change;  lines that look parallel from one view appear to be converging from another ...
Wednesday, September 22, 2021

It all starts with counting . . .

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     Sometimes our focus on what is important -- in life, in love  . . . as in mathematics --  starts with counting.   This process is artfu...
Monday, September 20, 2021

More of Yeats and Geometry

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      A blog-posting I made last week spoke of the use by poet William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) of geometry in his poetry .  Here is anothe...
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Intersecting lines of math, the arts, and justice

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       A multimedia interdisciplinary project linking mathematics, the arts, and language -- and entitled  Rhythm of Structure -- w...
Monday, September 13, 2021

Yeats and Geometry

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      Spelman College Professor Emeritus Colm Mulcahy is a mathematician and scholar whose talents and interests reach far and wide.  An em...
Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Seeing Mathematics Everywhere

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     Ohio poet Cathryn Essinger has a twin brother who is a mathematician -- and links to mathematics sometimes appear in her poetry.   Her...
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JoAnne Growney
I enjoy finding connections between different sorts of things . ..
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