I've been thinking a lot about last weekend's March for Our Lives and now it is the Easter weekend -- and these events have led me also to think about the heart and to reflect on this poem by Pennsylvania poet Gary Fincke entitled "The Billion Heartbeats of the Mammal."
The Billion Heartbeats of the Mammal by Gary Fincke
Feel this," my father says, guiding my hand
To the simple braille of his pacemaker.
"Sixty," he tells me, "over and over
Like a clock," and I mention the billion
heartbeats of the mammal, how the lifespan
Can be rough-guessed by the 800 beats
Per minute of the shrew, the 200
Of the house cat, speeding through their billion
In three years, in twelve. How slowly we act,
According to our pets. How we are stone
Friday, March 30, 2018
Monday, March 26, 2018
Mathematical cycles of life
After participating last Saturday in Washington, DC's "March for Our Lives" my head has been full of numbers related to gun violence. Stepping away from those to other numbers, I have re-found and enjoyed this poem by Spanish poet Elena Soto.
The cicadas of mathematical cycles by Elena Soto
Sheltered by the prime numbers,
the nymphs of the periodic cicadas
descend to the underworld.
Their cycles --
only divisible by one and by themselves --
avoid death.
Magicicada septendecim and Magicicada tredecim
enter the veil of the earth looking for tender plants.
They gather for oblivion and life
and thus conclude the circle of chaos.
And the legend says that they never return
because their blood becomes chlorophyll
and they are forever subjected to
the ancient cycle of plant constellations.
The cicadas of mathematical cycles by Elena Soto
Sheltered by the prime numbers,
the nymphs of the periodic cicadas
descend to the underworld.
Their cycles --
only divisible by one and by themselves --
avoid death.
Magicicada septendecim and Magicicada tredecim
enter the veil of the earth looking for tender plants.
They gather for oblivion and life
and thus conclude the circle of chaos.
And the legend says that they never return
because their blood becomes chlorophyll
and they are forever subjected to
the ancient cycle of plant constellations.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Happy Birthday -- Emmy Noether!
Born March 23, 1882. Amalie Emmy Noether (1882-1935) was an outstanding mathematician. Three years ago GOOGLE celebrated her birthday. At this link is a poem I wrote about her. And for more about her and other math-women, go to this article in the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics.
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Skinny poetry -- 11 lines, most with just 1 word . . .
Last weekend at a DC poetry gathering I had the opportunity to hear poet Truth Thomas speak about the "Skinny" -- a poetry form that he created at Howard University in 2005. More about Thomas and The Skinny Poetry Journal may be found here.
A Skinny is a short poem form that consists of eleven lines.
The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored).
The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words
from the first and opening line (however, they can be rearranged).
The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical.
All the lines in this form, except for the first and last lines, must contain ONLY ONE word.
Since learning of the Skinny, I've wanted to write one. Here's a try:
Math women count
many
pioneers
despite
barriers
many
heroic
few
praised
many
math women count
The Skinny Poetry Journal invites submissions. More information here.
A Skinny is a short poem form that consists of eleven lines.
The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored).
The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words
from the first and opening line (however, they can be rearranged).
The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical.
All the lines in this form, except for the first and last lines, must contain ONLY ONE word.
Since learning of the Skinny, I've wanted to write one. Here's a try:
Math women count
many
pioneers
despite
barriers
many
heroic
few
praised
many
math women count
The Skinny Poetry Journal invites submissions. More information here.
Monday, March 19, 2018
Math and poetry -- shout out the connection!
Recently I came across a fun-to-read posting here in the blog "math for grownups" about connections between math and poetry -- blogger Laura Laing is a freelance writer who was a math major (here is her personal webpage) and she offers strongly positive remarks about poetry and math and women and . .
Following the theme of positive connections, I offer a sample of work by Theoni Pappas, taken from a recently-republished collection math talk: mathematical ideas in poems for two voices (Wide World Publishing, 2014). Here are the opening lines of the first poem of the collection -- it is fittingly entitled "Mathematics."
Following the theme of positive connections, I offer a sample of work by Theoni Pappas, taken from a recently-republished collection math talk: mathematical ideas in poems for two voices (Wide World Publishing, 2014). Here are the opening lines of the first poem of the collection -- it is fittingly entitled "Mathematics."
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Math-minorities -- stories needing to be shouted
One of my favorite Facebook communities is Women in Maths -- a group energized by Susanne Pumpluen at the University of Nottingham and a site that consistently offers must-read items concerning math-women. One of the important blogs on my reading list is the American Mathematical Society Blog, inclusion/exclusion -- a diverse group of bloggers, headed by Adriana Salerno that discuss issues pertaining to marginalized and underrepresented groups in mathematics. A February posting by Piper Harron focuses attention on the question "What does it feel like not to belong?" -- treating exclusion issues with important frankness. As someone who felt uncomfortable without speaking out about it, I admire Harron's expression of her views.
For a poetic comment on this situation I turn to the final stanza of a poem of mine about Emmy Noether, a verse that illustrates the oft-repeated habit of praise that actually is a put-down.
Today, history books proclaim that Noether
is the greatest mathematician
her sex has produced. They say she was good
for a woman.
Readers interested in reading a bit more are invited to visit my 2017 article in the online Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, "They Say She Was Good for a Woman: Poetry and Musings."
For a poetic comment on this situation I turn to the final stanza of a poem of mine about Emmy Noether, a verse that illustrates the oft-repeated habit of praise that actually is a put-down.
Today, history books proclaim that Noether
is the greatest mathematician
her sex has produced. They say she was good
for a woman.
Readers interested in reading a bit more are invited to visit my 2017 article in the online Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, "They Say She Was Good for a Woman: Poetry and Musings."
Labels:
Adriana Salerno,
Emmy Noether,
Piper Harron,
Susanne Pumpluen
Monday, March 12, 2018
Celebrate Pi-Day with a message in Pilish
As you may already know, when we write in Pilish, our word-lengths follow the pattern of the digits of pi. For example, here is a link to posting that offers a poem in Pilish by Mike Keith. Here is a small Pilish verse of my own:
Here is a link to a host of earlier postings in this blog about Pi.
And, for Pi-Day or any day . . ..a book I found online recently that looks like a great STEAM resource for K-12 teachers is Strategies that Integrate the Arts in Mathematics (Shell Education, 2015) by Linda Dacey and Lisa Donovan. This amazon.com listing enables viewers to look inside.
Twenty-six words of Pilish . . . |
Here is a link to a host of earlier postings in this blog about Pi.
And, for Pi-Day or any day . . ..a book I found online recently that looks like a great STEAM resource for K-12 teachers is Strategies that Integrate the Arts in Mathematics (Shell Education, 2015) by Linda Dacey and Lisa Donovan. This amazon.com listing enables viewers to look inside.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Philippa Fawcett -- Talented and Overlooked
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY !
Celebrate MATH-WOMEN by writing POEMS about them!
Celebrate MATH-WOMEN by writing POEMS about them!
I want to shout out a THANK YOU to Larry Riddle of Agnes Scott College for his website, "Biographies of Women Mathematicians" -- around two-hundred women are portrayed there. One of these is Philippa Fawcett (1868-1946) in an article that opens with these words:
Became, in 1890, the first woman to score the highest mark
of all the candidates for the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge University.
Women at that time were not eligible for a Cambridge BA degree, however.
A Wikipedia article quotes one of her students at Newnham College, Cambridge:
“What I remember most vividly of Miss Fawcett's coaching was
her concentration, speed, and infectious delight in what she was teaching ... "
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Linking mathematics to the rest . . .
Today my obtuse anger is rightly directed toward G. H. Hardy (1877-1947) and to the followers who have accepted his view -- in his 1940 treatise, A Mathematician's Apology -- that explaining and appreciating mathematics is work for second-rate minds. Despite his worthy achievements in number theory and analysis and his nurturing of Ramanujan, Hardy's words should not stand forth and belittle those who teach and explain and forge connections between mathematics and all the rest.
An wonderful and ongoing source of integration of mathematics with the arts is the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics -- and I invite you to go to the current issue and browse there OR go to this link for more than thirty pages of mathematical Haiku.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Mathematical images via Haiku
Musing
So many versions
of the truth -- mathematics
always one of them.
The recent issue of the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics includes not only a variety of poems linked to mathematics -- it also has a special treat: a folder of Haiku -- 31 pages with contributions by 31 different writers. One of these contributors is Hannah Lewis and she has given me permission to share her work. Here are Hannah's Haiku:
But, Why?
x equals y, but—
why? dig deeper and all your
answers will unearth.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Poetry from Ursula Le Guin
Well-known and beloved writer Ursula Le Guin (1929-2018) died last month -- at the age of 88. Although best known for her fiction, Le Guin also was a poet -- and I include samples of her poetic work (and links) below.
An adaptation for the stage of Le Guin's novel, The Lathe of Heaven, is currently in performance (until March 11) at the Spooky Action Theater as part of Washington, DC's Women's Voices Theater Festival. I had the privilege of attending last Saturday's performance -- and liked it a lot.
Le Guin's poetry is not substantially mathematical, but I include a couple of verses below that each contain a mathy term or two . . .
An adaptation for the stage of Le Guin's novel, The Lathe of Heaven, is currently in performance (until March 11) at the Spooky Action Theater as part of Washington, DC's Women's Voices Theater Festival. I had the privilege of attending last Saturday's performance -- and liked it a lot.
Le Guin's poetry is not substantially mathematical, but I include a couple of verses below that each contain a mathy term or two . . .
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of ... Mathematics
One of my favorite mathy authors is Lillian R. Lieber (1886-1986) and one of the websites that has recently featured her work is the energetic and eclectic brainpickings.org (authored by Maria Popova) -- in a posting recommended to me by my Bloomsburg, PA poetry-friend Carol Ann Heckman. Carol alerted me to a January 2018 brainpickings posting about Lieber -- a writer whose poetic treatise, Infinity: Beyond the Beyond the Beyond (Paul Dry Books, 2007) is a reading I once recommended to her as an aid in understanding calculus. Originally published in 1953 and illustrated with striking drawings by Lillian's collaborating husband, Hugh Lieber, Infinity also had enriched my own understanding of some challenging concepts. The Heckman-recommended posting offers ideas from an out-of-print gem by Lieber entitled Human Values and Science, Art and Mathematics -- and here are a few opening lines from that collection that seem very relevant today:
This book is really about
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,
using ideas from mathematics
to make these concepts less vague.
This book is really about
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,
using ideas from mathematics
to make these concepts less vague.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Sonnet for Bolyai -- and translations
The Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai (1802 – 1860) was one of the discoverers of non-Euclidean geometry — an axiomatization that differs from Euclid's geometry in its stipulations concerning parallel lines. This discovery of an alternative view of space -- that also was logically consistent -- helped to free mathematicians to explore new ideas, and the consequences developed by Einstein and others have led to far-reaching results.
Hungarian poet Mihály Babits (1883-1941) wrote a sonnet about Bolyai. I learned of this sonnet and its English translation (by Paul Sohar and offered below) from Osmo Pekonen, a Finnish mathematician who is engaged in the project of collecting translations of Babits' sonnet into as many languages as possible. (The original Hungarian version -- along with a Spanish translation -- is available here.)
Hungarian poet Mihály Babits (1883-1941) wrote a sonnet about Bolyai. I learned of this sonnet and its English translation (by Paul Sohar and offered below) from Osmo Pekonen, a Finnish mathematician who is engaged in the project of collecting translations of Babits' sonnet into as many languages as possible. (The original Hungarian version -- along with a Spanish translation -- is available here.)
God had imprisoned our minds in space.
Those puny things have remained prisoners.
Thought, the hungry bird of prey fought the curse,
but never breached its diamond bars' embrace.
Those puny things have remained prisoners.
Thought, the hungry bird of prey fought the curse,
but never breached its diamond bars' embrace.
Labels:
János Bolyai,
Mihály Babits,
Osmo Pekonen,
Paul Solar
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Happy Valentine's Day -- I love SEVEN!
Happy Valentine's Day!
I love seven – as a
five-
letter
word
or
as
an
acute
angle.
Not only is seven prime, it is the number
of my granddaughters who all like math --I want to make a mountain to celebrate
the girls and the women they become . . .
Friday, February 9, 2018
A Matrix Poem, "RESIST"
My first awareness of the term "matrix" was in a math class -- where it means a rectangular array of quantities that are treated as a single unified object. But my online dictionary does not list that definition first; a Google Search using "matrix definition" led me to "an environment or material in which something develops; a surrounding medium or structure." And so it goes.
And when I enter the pair "matrix" and "poem" into a Google Search, the results include poems with the word "matrix" in the title AND rectangular arrays including this one from Eleven Matrix Poems by Roy Lisker and found at this source. Reading instruction includes this:
And when I enter the pair "matrix" and "poem" into a Google Search, the results include poems with the word "matrix" in the title AND rectangular arrays including this one from Eleven Matrix Poems by Roy Lisker and found at this source. Reading instruction includes this:
Matrix poems are written to be read in all of the directions
indicated by their accompanying diagrams.
![]() |
"RESIST" by Roy Lisker |
My favorite line is shown as the second column; which is yours?
Fight Ever Will To Never Evade
In closing, one more remark about the Google Search I performed using "matrix poem"; as with many Google searches there was a link to images, and from that I found a delightful array of word-diagrams such as the one above. Try it sometime!Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Find a Mathy Valentine!
As the 2018 version of Valentine's Day draws near, I urge you to visit past postings to sample the variety contained in my years of collecting -- if you are looking for Mathy Valentines:
Two of the poems in the anthology that Sarah Glaz and I edited -- Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (AK Peters/CRC Press, 2008) -- have the title "Valentine." Here is the final line of the one by Katharine O'Brien:
. . . won't you be my cardioid?
and the final pair of lines of Michael Stueben's verse:
I love you as one over x,
as x approaches zero.
do a blog Search using Valentine
Two of the poems in the anthology that Sarah Glaz and I edited -- Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (AK Peters/CRC Press, 2008) -- have the title "Valentine." Here is the final line of the one by Katharine O'Brien:
. . . won't you be my cardioid?
and the final pair of lines of Michael Stueben's verse:
I love you as one over x,
as x approaches zero.
Sending my wishes a week ahead of time, Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 5, 2018
Math-poetry for Black History Month
Recently I have revisited my post (from October 2, 2012) that offers a puzzle poem by math-science guy Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), "The Puzzle of the Hound and the Hare" and available here.
This link leads to several more posts that also offer mathy poems linked to African-American history and culture. And here, below, is a treasure to enjoy in any month:
Addition by Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
7 x 7 + love =
An amount
Infinitely above:
7 x 7 − love.
Hughes' poem "Addition" is found in the anthology Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (AK Peters/CRC Press, 2008), edited by Sarah Glaz and me and first posted in this blog, along with other poems celebrating to Black History Month, on February 20, 2011.
This link leads to several more posts that also offer mathy poems linked to African-American history and culture. And here, below, is a treasure to enjoy in any month:
Addition by Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
7 x 7 + love =
An amount
Infinitely above:
7 x 7 − love.
Hughes' poem "Addition" is found in the anthology Strange Attractors: Poems of Love and Mathematics (AK Peters/CRC Press, 2008), edited by Sarah Glaz and me and first posted in this blog, along with other poems celebrating to Black History Month, on February 20, 2011.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Square poems -- pricked by a cactus!
Back home now in Maryland after some time in Arizona (near Tucson) with cousins, my mind is full of the beauty and diversity of the cactuses that I saw there -- in yards and gardens and, most spectacularly, at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (BIG Thanks, Bob and Ann!) My interest in these prickly plants led me to seek a poem that featured them. What I found is a small "square poem" in my article "Mathematics in Poetry" -- published several years ago by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and available here. Below, I quote that tiny square poem -- preceded by an explanatory introduction.
Mock feelings
serve as well
as true ones.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
50 years after "The Population Bomb"
In 1968 while I was in graduate school at the University of Oklahoma, we all were talking about Paul Erlich's new book, The Population Bomb, and its dire predictions. My worry over population has evolved into worry about climate change -- a deep concern that selfish actions today are leaving an unhealthy world for future generations. I want my grandchildren to have the opportunity for healthy lives!!! On the morning of January 3, the program 1A on radio station WAMU did a thought-provoking feature, "More People, More Problems" on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Erlich's book. And, at a website entitled "Better (not bigger) Vermont" I found several poems and songs about population, including the "Population Pressure Song" by Calvin Stewart & Joice Marie -- I offer several stanzas below:
from Population Pressure Song by Calvin Stewart & Joice Marie (©2008)
. . .
Pop pop, goes the population
Got to stop, the population
While we still have our woods
In our quiet neighborhoods
from Population Pressure Song by Calvin Stewart & Joice Marie (©2008)
. . .
Pop pop, goes the population
Got to stop, the population
While we still have our woods
In our quiet neighborhoods
Monday, January 22, 2018
A poem that counts
Recently I discovered (at Poets.org) this thought-provoking number-poem by Oklahoma poet Quraysh Ali Lansana.
bible belted: math by Quraysh Ali Lansana
Pro-Black doesn’t mean anti-anything.
El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
there are at least twenty-seven
white people i love. i counted.
four from high school, five from
undergraduate years, maybe
bible belted: math by Quraysh Ali Lansana
Pro-Black doesn’t mean anti-anything.
El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
there are at least twenty-seven
white people i love. i counted.
four from high school, five from
undergraduate years, maybe
Friday, January 19, 2018
Counting syllables and supporting life
Today, as abortion-protesters march in Washington, I look back to a post from March 25, 2013 and repeat it below. I, too, cherish life -- and know that sometimes people face very difficult choices.
36 Syllables by JoAnne Growney
More than abortion, fear
unwanted lives -- saddest
consequence for children
conceived without a plan
for parenting. There is
more than one way to die.
* * * * *
In a perfect world in which every pregnancy is wanted and every life supported with love, there would be no need for abortion. As I work toward that world, I have penned this small syllable-square poem of concern about the vulnerability of young lives.36 Syllables by JoAnne Growney
More than abortion, fear
unwanted lives -- saddest
consequence for children
conceived without a plan
for parenting. There is
more than one way to die.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
OULIPO, Mathews -- and permutations of proverbs
Harry Mathews (1930-2017) was a writer -- novelist, poet, essayist, and translator --whose work interests me a great deal. He was the only American member of the original Oulipo -- a group formed around 1960 of writers and mathematicians who experimented with a variety of constraints designed to force new arrangements of words and thoughts. An example cited in a NYTimes feature that followed his death on January 25 illustrates the challenges he set for himself: he rewrote a poem by Keats using the vocabulary of a Julia Child recipe. What some might have seen as pointless, Mathews found intellectually liberating.
Mathews served as Paris Editor of the Paris Review from 1989 to 2003 and the Spring 2007 issue offers an interview. The summer 1998 issue offers samples of his perverbs -- that is, permuted proverbs:
Mathews served as Paris Editor of the Paris Review from 1989 to 2003 and the Spring 2007 issue offers an interview. The summer 1998 issue offers samples of his perverbs -- that is, permuted proverbs:
"The word perverb was invented
by Paris review editor Maxine Groffsky
to describe the result obtained by crossing two proverbs.
For example, "All roads lead to Rome" and "A rolling stone gathers no moss"
give us "All roads gather moss" and "A rolling stone leads to Rome"
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Blog history -- title, links for previous posts . . .
My first posting in this blog was nearly eight years ago (on March 23, 2010). If, at the time, I had anticipated its duration, I should have made a plan for organizing the posts. But my ambitions were small. During the time I was teaching mathematics at Bloomsburg University, I gathered poetry (and various historical materials) for assigned readings to enrich the students' course experiences. After my retirement, I had time to want to share these materials -- others were doing well at making historical material accessible to students but I thought poetry linked to mathematics needed to be shared more. And so, with my posting of a poem I had written long ago celebrating the mathematical life of Emmy Noether, this blog began. Particular topics featured often in postings include -- verse that celebrate women, verses that speak out against discrimination, verses that worry about climate change.
You're invited to:Scroll through the titles below, browsing to find items of interest
among the more-than-nine-hundred postings since March 2010
OR
Click on any label -- a list is found in the right-hand column below the author profile
OR
Enter term(s) in the SEARCH box -- and find all posts containing those terms.
For example, here is a link to the results of a SEARCH using math women
And here is a link to a poem by Brian McCabe that celebrates math-woman Sophie Germain.
This link reaches a poem by Joan Cannon that laments her math-anxiety.
This poem expresses some of my own divided feelings.
2017 Posts
Monday, January 15, 2018
Honor Martin Luther King -- think on his words!
Celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King (1929-1968)
with his words-- which include several mathy terms.
We must accept
finite disappointment
but never lose
infinite hope. Freedom is never
voluntarily given
by the oppressor;
it must be demanded
by the oppressed.
When you are right
you cannot be too radical;
when you are wrong,
you cannot be too conservative.
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Clear the head for best thinking by walking
An engineer -- and friend -- who is a long-time supporter of the STEM to STEAM program is US Naval Academy Professor Greg Coxson. Although a member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Coxson has a strong interest in the arts. He reads widely and has suggested a number of poems for this blog. Recently his recommendation was "Solvitur Ambulando" by Billy Collins, a poem found on pages 92-93 of the collection The Rain in Portugal (Random House, 2016). Below I offer the opening stanza and the final, mathematical, portion of Collins' fine poem. (Go to the book and read more!)
from Solvitur Ambulando "It is solved by walking." by Billy Collins
I sometimes wonder about the thoughtful Roman
who came up with the notion
that any problem can be solved by walking.
. . .
from Solvitur Ambulando "It is solved by walking." by Billy Collins
I sometimes wonder about the thoughtful Roman
who came up with the notion
that any problem can be solved by walking.
. . .
Monday, January 8, 2018
A Marriage of Music and Mathematics
Italian mathematician and musician Rosanna Iembo is an interdisciplinary star that I have had the pleasure of meeting -- and hearing -- at poetry readings held at mathematics conferences. Iembo combines mathematical storytelling with live music; here is a link to a musical video of "The Marriage of Myia and Milo" narrated by Iembo, with musical accompaniment by her daughters -- and, below, I offer an abbreviated sample of a math-related portion of the poetic text.
A marriage, a marriage,
said everyone.
Myia, the daughter of Pythagoras and Theanò,
marries Milo, the legendary athlete.
And to the marriage
even the stranger was invited
because nobody was excluded
in that ancient polis
where Pythagoras founded a School.
from The Marriage of Myia & Milo by Rosanna Iembo
A marriage, a marriage,
said everyone.
Myia, the daughter of Pythagoras and Theanò,
marries Milo, the legendary athlete.
And to the marriage
even the stranger was invited
because nobody was excluded
in that ancient polis
where Pythagoras founded a School.
Friday, January 5, 2018
Mathematics and Gender . . . #MeToo
FOUND poetry in Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time,
compiled by Dr Laurence J Peter (Collins Reference, 1993).
A woman has to be
TWICE as good
as a man
to go HALF as far. Fannie Hurst
Men seldom
make passes
at a girl
who surpasses. Franklin P Jones
Labels:
Fannie Hurst,
Franklin P. Jones,
Laurence J. Peter
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
In short words . . . a Fib for the New Year!
I
want
to wish
you a fine
New Year: play with words
and time. Count each short word and line.
One of the fascinating web-postings I have found recently is this one in which mathematical ideas are expressed in short words -- that is, in words of one syllable. As you might expect, these creations are sometimes awkward and sometimes insightful. I invite you to try, as I have done above, your own expression of ideas in short words.
And if you'd like to find more examples of Fibs (that is, poems in which the syllable counts per line follow the Fibonacci numbers), this link leads to the results of a search of this blog using "Fib."
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Problems with no solutions
The syllable-square stanza is a poetic form I often turn to when scientific terminology gives me little hope of matching traditional patterns of rhyme or rhythm -- counting syllables gives discipline and invention to my word choices, and these are for me essential in writing poetry.
As a grandparent of school-age children I am deeply worried about the world they are inheriting. I want it to offer a healthy environment and safety with vast opportunities for women as well as men. And my own writing often supports these views. I encourage readers to use the blog SEARCH to find an assortment of poems on a theme -- such as "girl" or "environment" or . . . For example, here is a link to postings that include the word opportunity. Scrolling through that list leads to this posting of Eavan Boland's poem, "Code," which honors Grace Murray Hopper.
Square worries
Unless miracles give
our earth new resources
that prove unlimited,
unchecked population
growth and climate change are
problems with no solutions.
As a grandparent of school-age children I am deeply worried about the world they are inheriting. I want it to offer a healthy environment and safety with vast opportunities for women as well as men. And my own writing often supports these views. I encourage readers to use the blog SEARCH to find an assortment of poems on a theme -- such as "girl" or "environment" or . . . For example, here is a link to postings that include the word opportunity. Scrolling through that list leads to this posting of Eavan Boland's poem, "Code," which honors Grace Murray Hopper.
And here is my small, worried square:
Square worries
Unless miracles give
our earth new resources
that prove unlimited,
unchecked population
growth and climate change are
problems with no solutions.
Labels:
Eavan Boland,
Grace Murray Hopper,
opportunity
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Counting toward Christmas . . .
Like my grandchildren, I am counting the days until Christmas -- enjoying holiday lights that break the winter darkness and looking forward to family gatherings. Below I repeat a growing snowball poem that I first posted at the Christmas season in 2012.
Continuing in the holiday spirit, here (repeated from 2010 posting) is a Christmas verse that celebrates pi (and helps us to remember its digits):
*
o n
t o p
g i v e
l i g h t
f r e e l y
f o r e v e r
a b u n d a n t
b r i l l i a n t
e v e r y w h e r e
o n
t o p
g i v e
l i g h t
f r e e l y
f o r e v e r
a b u n d a n t
b r i l l i a n t
e v e r y w h e r e
LOVE MATH!
Holiday greetings and good wishes to ALL!
Continuing in the holiday spirit, here (repeated from 2010 posting) is a Christmas verse that celebrates pi (and helps us to remember its digits):
Monday, December 18, 2017
It's time to correct our answers!
Verses with Two Voices
by JoAnne Growney
by JoAnne Growney
Questions Answers
Why doesn't the teacher notice
my hand is raised?
I'm waiting for all the boys,
so eager to speak, to finish ...
Why did he put my solution
at the bottom of the pile?
You are a girl .... It is best
for me to read the good papers first.
Have you had time to review
my proof of the theorem?
No, dear!
You are pregnant
and nothing will come of it ....
If you find moments between household and mothering,
pick up a pen and write a little rhyme.
Girls can do poems.
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Visual poetry -- schemes with squares
Thanks to math teacher Sara Katz (at Manhattan's Essex Street Academy)
and the Journal of Humanistic Mathematics for today's poem.
Monday, December 11, 2017
SPLIT THIS ROCK -- Poetry that takes a stand!
For a poetry conference about
POETRY THAT MATTERS
plan to attend Split This Rock's 2018 (April 19-21) Festival.
Information about the festival and how to register available here.
Headline: Six Killed in Raid by Sarah Browning
Six American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter killed
in booby trapped house.
-- Fourth paragraph of Washington Post story
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Math-Poetry from YouTube
Using "mathematics" as a search term at YouTube.com leads to a huge number of interesting results -- and some of them are poems. For example:
Here next, in contrast to the BIG poems on YouTube, is a small mathy poem by Howard Nemerov (found here, along with other tiny Nemerov poems). Thanks, Francisco, for alerting me to this treasure.
Aesthetics by Howard Nemerov
The spider does geometry all night
To take the fly, the dewdrop, and the sun’s light.
Dallas Slam Poet Alexandra Marie
Performance poet Dan Simpson from Salford, UK
gives us "Applied Mathematics".
Aesthetics by Howard Nemerov
The spider does geometry all night
To take the fly, the dewdrop, and the sun’s light.
Labels:
Alexandra Marie,
Dan Simpson,
Howard Nemerov
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Calculating Pi -- a poet's view
Initially I was drawn to a reading at The Writer's Center in Bethesda a couple of weeks ago because my neighbor, non-fiction writer and editor, Josh Tyree was reading from his London explorations, Vanishing Streets. But the two writer's who read with Tyree also were known to me and are remarkable:
Annie Finch, a poet I have known through WomPo, an online community (founded by her) that supports women-poets. Links to Annie's work in this blog -- which feature items that pay careful attention to syllable-counts -- are here, (for July 29, 1010) and here, (for June 27, 2015).
Gary Fincke, who was once almost a neighbor of mine -- I taught mathematics at Bloomsburg (PA) University and he taught and developed a creative writing program at nearby Susquehanna University -- and, before I moved south to the Washington, DC area, Gary and I knew each other through local literary events. It was great fun to hear Gary read not only poetry -- I offer a sample of his mathy work below -- but also short fiction; I came away from the November 11 reading with a copy of his new book of short stories, The Killer's Dog (Elixir Press, 2017), which is a very intriguing collection.
Fincke's poetry does not shy from mathematics and "The Butterfly Effect" was posted in this blog back on November 22, 2010. Here, from Fincke's collection, Blood Ties: Working-Class Poems (Time Being Press, 2002) is "Calculating Pi."
Calculating Pi by Gary Fincke
"Pi has been calculated to 480 million decimal points."
-- Newsweek
Printed out, this means six hundred miles of digits,
A paper carpet from Pittsburgh to Chicago
Annie Finch, a poet I have known through WomPo, an online community (founded by her) that supports women-poets. Links to Annie's work in this blog -- which feature items that pay careful attention to syllable-counts -- are here, (for July 29, 1010) and here, (for June 27, 2015).
Gary Fincke, who was once almost a neighbor of mine -- I taught mathematics at Bloomsburg (PA) University and he taught and developed a creative writing program at nearby Susquehanna University -- and, before I moved south to the Washington, DC area, Gary and I knew each other through local literary events. It was great fun to hear Gary read not only poetry -- I offer a sample of his mathy work below -- but also short fiction; I came away from the November 11 reading with a copy of his new book of short stories, The Killer's Dog (Elixir Press, 2017), which is a very intriguing collection.
Fincke's poetry does not shy from mathematics and "The Butterfly Effect" was posted in this blog back on November 22, 2010. Here, from Fincke's collection, Blood Ties: Working-Class Poems (Time Being Press, 2002) is "Calculating Pi."
Calculating Pi by Gary Fincke
"Pi has been calculated to 480 million decimal points."
-- Newsweek
Printed out, this means six hundred miles of digits,
A paper carpet from Pittsburgh to Chicago
Monday, November 27, 2017
Science Poetry from Spain
Several weeks ago I got an email from science journalist Elena Soto, from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, director of a weekly science supplement for the newspaper El Mundo. Soto told me of her poetry -- recently, Kernlose Winter , a collection containing a number of poems with a scientific theme -- and her blog Establo de Pegaso that offers samplings of science-poetry fare.
Soto's poem, "The equation of zebra stripes" -- offered below -- is about morphogenesis (the structural changes that occur as an organism develops). From Kernlose Winter and found also in Soto's blog, the poem is dedicated to codebreaker Alan Turing. I offer first Soto's English translation and, following that, her original Spanish version. Thank you, Elena, for sharing this and the links to more of your work.
The equation of zebra stripes by Elena Soto
for Alan Mathison Turing
Sadness,
singular as zebra stripes,
wrinkle borders on maps.
Enchants the pupil,
molds her to the smooth curve of the dunes.
Drag until the fur
the winding path of deltas
the coastline.
Soto's poem, "The equation of zebra stripes" -- offered below -- is about morphogenesis (the structural changes that occur as an organism develops). From Kernlose Winter and found also in Soto's blog, the poem is dedicated to codebreaker Alan Turing. I offer first Soto's English translation and, following that, her original Spanish version. Thank you, Elena, for sharing this and the links to more of your work.
The equation of zebra stripes by Elena Soto
for Alan Mathison Turing
Sadness,
singular as zebra stripes,
wrinkle borders on maps.
Enchants the pupil,
molds her to the smooth curve of the dunes.
Drag until the fur
the winding path of deltas
the coastline.
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