"Who Counts, Counts" -- by Stephanie Strickland

       Stephanie Strickland is a poet whom I know and much admire -- and her work contains a rich variety of math-poetry creations; her poems have been featured in several posts in this blog (Here's a link to those postings.)  Today I had the good fortune to refind another of her poems -- not yet posted herein -- and I offer it below.  

     Who Counts, Counts      by Stephanie Strickland

          Baby and you
          --and me,
          we will make three,

                 but baby-and-me
                 are different; we're two-
                 who-are-one.  

Geometry and Poetry -- with a Pumpkin

     Posted on X by talented and prolific STEAM blogger, Heidi Bee Roemer (@poetweet4), this Halloween poem relates to the geometry of a carved pumpkin face -- with mathematical shapes. 

An activist children's author,  Romer promote literacy, shares STEAM resources & hosts contests for college, high school & jr. high students. Publications include 9 kids' books, and more than 400 poems.  Her website is steampoweredpoetry.com.   

Math Class -- featuring GIRLS

      I recently learned of a book by creative writer Kellie Krumrie entitled Math Class (Calamari Press, 2022) -- a book of essays that feature teen-age girls.  Exploring further I found poetry by Krumrie in La Vague -- an online feminist journal that has ceased publication BUT retains online records of previously published work.    

Here is one of Krumrie's poems which I am enjoying puzzling over!

c e m e n t   /  e m m y  n o e t h e r   by Kellie Krumrie

‘She had the faculty of visualizing remote, very complex connections without resorting to concrete examples.’

Can math be funny?

      Recently I discovered the website teacher planet and found there a variety of math-related resources including humorous versions of definitions of math terms.

Using a poetry-stanza format, I have included several of these "poetic" definitions below:

          Math is like love;
          a simple idea,
          but it can get complicated.  

Genius grant for Math-Woman

     Mathematician Lauren K. Williams (PhD ’05 MIT, currently Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University) has won a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship, a prestigious honor often called the “genius grant.” The award is presented annually by the MacArthur Foundation to “talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits.”  The MacArthur Foundation praised Williams for “uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics.”

Student Contest -- STEAM-Themed Poems

      A varied and energetic and very valuable voice for the importance of connections between mathematics and poetry is STEAM-Poetry advocate Heidi Bee Roemer.  Here is a link to her focus on mathy poems.  (STEAM is a popular abbreviation for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics.)

Recently Romer has opened registration for a STEAM Poetry Video Contest. Between now and April 30, 2026, students can choose a STEAM-themed poem (from a selection of 40 poems), create short videos for their younger peers, and enter them in the contest.  Contest details are here.

     And here is a sample poem by Roemer -- a mathy poem written for elementary-school students.

The Geometry of Verse

     Here in the US, we have a new poet laureate (announced by the Library of Congress on September 15, 2025)  --  and this selected poet Arthur Sze sees poetry as a unifying agent -- "verse can bring us together".

     Sze is a poet whose work I value reading -- but its links to mathematics are gentle and scattered.  Here is a sample --  the closing lines from Sze's poem "Sight Lines".  (The complete poem is available here at poets.org.)  

Reversible Verse

      A recent discovery that I have found fascinating is a reversible poem -- a poem with word/line choices that read the same from the last to the first as from the first to the last.  Author Marilyn Singer offers the following sample on her website from her collection Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse Poems – illustrated by Josee Masse; Dutton/Penguin, 2010.

In this unique collection of reversible verse, classic fairy tales are turned on their heads. Literally. Read these clever poems from top to bottom. Then reverse the lines and read from bottom to top to give these well-loved stories a delicious new spin.  Word patterns remain the same -- with changes only in punctuation and capitalization.

                    IN REVERSE       by Marilyn Singer     

Technology and Poetry and . . .

Recently I found this online article in the Bangi News:

            Why poetry has lost its lustre in the modern world

It offers the following forlorn math-and-poetry view:

          Today, with schools pushing 
           math and science over the arts, 
           poetry feels like an old, boring puzzle.
           Why spend time decoding a poem 
           when you can watch a 15-second reel 
           that makes you laugh?   

Is this view useful?      Explore more in the Bangi News here.   

Pope Leo was a Mathematics Major . . .

      Recently I learned via a post on X -Twitter by Anthony Bonato (@Anthony_Bonato) that the new Roman Catholic Pope Leo was, in college, a math major.  (For Wikipedia's info on Pope Leo, follow this link.)  I celebrate this with one of my favorite poetic forms, a syllable-count triangle.

         Math
         is a
         discipline
         that can prepare
         for leadership and 
         holiness -- Pope Leo!

Count the votes . . .

      Today I have been thinking about election results and the role that non-voters have in deciding elections and I have shaped my words into the following syllable-count triangle:

          Count
          the votes.
          Elections
          are decided
          by we who vote -- and
          also by those who don't!  

Poems to Enjoy on YouTube

     This is a quick and brief post BUT its shortness may give you some time to explore these richly populated links:  

         Math Poems on YouTube;

        Math Songs for Kids -- on YouTube.

Bridging Worlds with Mathematics

      Each year the Association for Women in Mathematics holds an essay contest -- inviting middle school and high school and college students each to interview a math woman and to write about it.  The names of 2025 contest winners -- and links to their essays -- are available here at this link.

     One of my delights as I browsed through the contest results was to find male as well as female essay winners.  Here is a link to "Bridging Worlds through Mathematics"  -- an essay by Alan Zhang of Francis Richmond Middle School, telling of an interview with Alena Erchenko (Dartmouth College), that won first place in the Grades 6-8 contest group.  And this link leads to "Where Dreams Can Take You" -- an essay by Peter Holman of Frances C, Richmond Middle School telling of an interview with Kim Luke (Simbex).

Micro Poetry

What is Micro Poetry?

Micropoetry (a term sometimes offered as two terms) is an ultra-short form of poetry, typically under 25 words or 140 characters, blending creative brevity with precise language characterized by sharp imagery and emotional depth while allowing diverse interpretations.  (Definition found at this website.)

Both mathematics and poetry are condensed languages, endeavoring to say much in a few words or symbols and so, when I recently came across the term "Micropoetry' -- aka micro-poetry or micropoetry -- I became curious (and I thought of Haiku) and I decided to to explore.