Consider the geometry and community of trees . Can we learn from them?
We plant two trees.
Their trunks grow strong
and straight--and parallel.
Parallel lines don't meet.
These trees, however--
straight and tall and parallel--
reach out with branches.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Monday, June 25, 2018
Visual, Poetical -- Mathematical Impressions
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Our place in the universe . . .
Nanao Sakaki (1923-2009) was a Japanese poet who began to wander the world after his term in the Japanese military in WWII -- and his poems give views of these travel experiences. He met Gary Snyder and Allen Ginsberg in the 1960s and his work has been noticeably influenced by theirs. Here, from his collection Break the Mirror (Blackberry Books, 1996) is "A Love Letter" -- a poem that considers how the universe spreads out around us.
A Love Letter by Nanao Sakaki
Within a circle of one meter
You sit, pray and sing.
Within a shelter ten meters large
You sleep well, rain sounds a lullaby.
Within a field a hundred meters large
Grow rice and raise goats.
A Love Letter by Nanao Sakaki
Within a circle of one meter
You sit, pray and sing.
Within a shelter ten meters large
You sleep well, rain sounds a lullaby.
Within a field a hundred meters large
Grow rice and raise goats.
Monday, June 18, 2018
Choose the right LINE
Recently, looking through my copies of POETRY Magazine, in the September 2008 issue I found this quote (used as an epigraph) from a poet whose work I greatly admire, British poet Philip Larkin (1922-1985):
The whole point of drawing is choosing the right line.
Finding the Larkin quote led me to look back in my blog for poems that feature the concept of line -- with its multiple meanings -- and I offer this link to search-results that offer a variety of choices for poems with line for you to explore.
The whole point of drawing is choosing the right line.
And here are links to a couple of my own recent attempts to choose the right line:
The online journal TalkingWriting has recently interviewed me
The online journal TalkingWriting has recently interviewed me
and a link to their ten-minute video is available here. In it I read
a portion of my poem, "My Dance is Mathematics,"
that stars mathematician Emmy Noether.
"They Say She Was Good -- for a Woman," features that same poem
and some additional reflections on the struggles of women in mathematics.
Friday, June 15, 2018
NOTHING is SOMETHING
Thinking today about ZERO -- zero tolerance, zero fear!
These findings take me back to the 1980's and "affirmative action" at Pennsylvania's Bloomsburg University (where I was a member of the Mathematics Department). The University had an Affirmative Action Officer who worked to help faculty and staff develop behaviors and policies that endeavored to end discrimination against women and minorities. One important test of the appropriateness of an activity was a "symmetry test" -- if a remark or act did not seem proper when the roles of two participants were reversed, then the original was probably something to avoid. In those days, my male colleagues needed to reconsider some of their behaviors and I needed to overcome my fear of speaking up.
The concept of zero as "something" that signifies "nothing" is an ever-thought-provoking one. In support of ZERO TOLERANCE -- with a goal of NOTHING, I offer the following poem, "The Zero," by Israel Har.
Monday, June 11, 2018
Use MUSIC to enrich STEM teaching
Last year this blog announced an online conference involving the use of song in teaching STEM subjects. From one of the organizers, Gregory Crowther, I have this update -- announcing a second annual VOICES conference in September 2018:
Song lyrics often are poetry; here are links to several lyrics featured earlier in this blog: "The Derivative Song" by Tom Lehrer, Lines from "Mandlebrot Set" by Jonathan Coulton, "Circle Song" and lines from "Hotel Infinity" by Larry Lesser, "Questions You Can't Ever Decide" by Bill Calhoun.
featured 40 presentations on teaching STEM subjects with music.
Presentation
ideas are now being solicited for the 2018 conference
to be held on 26 September 2018. All are welcome to enter!"
Song lyrics often are poetry; here are links to several lyrics featured earlier in this blog: "The Derivative Song" by Tom Lehrer, Lines from "Mandlebrot Set" by Jonathan Coulton, "Circle Song" and lines from "Hotel Infinity" by Larry Lesser, "Questions You Can't Ever Decide" by Bill Calhoun.
Friday, June 8, 2018
More people are reading poetry!!
In an email today from Poets.org, I received a link to an article describing increases in the numbers of readers of poetry in recent years (comparing 2017 with 2012). The article, published by the National Endowment for the Arts, is available here. Although that article does not mention or credit the STEM to STEAM movement, I'd like to think it may be a factor in enlarging poetry's readership.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
A visual poem
One of the delights of today's Internet is that it enables us to find friends with common interests all over the world. An email message from Tope Salaudeen-Adegoke of Nigeria has introduced me to one of his visual poems:
"Coding Colonisation" is a visual poem written and arranged
in the computer programming indentation of HTML/CSS.
The poem fuses what seem to be mathematics and poetry together . . ."
I have included this poem below; for those who wish background information, some explanation is given in this linked essay. Please take time to explore the meanings coded here.
/*Coding Colonisation */ by Tope Saludeen-Adegoke
#menu nativity {
africa-america-type:none;
margin:0px;
background-color:#000000;
}
"Coding Colonisation" is a visual poem written and arranged
in the computer programming indentation of HTML/CSS.
The poem fuses what seem to be mathematics and poetry together . . ."
I have included this poem below; for those who wish background information, some explanation is given in this linked essay. Please take time to explore the meanings coded here.
_______________
#menu nativity {
africa-america-type:none;
margin:0px;
background-color:#000000;
}
Monday, June 4, 2018
Nature's Examples of Fibonacci Numbers
Recently I have been reexamining some of the treasures that have been on my bookshelves for a while. One of these is Discovering Patterns in Mathematics and Poetry by Marcia Birken and Anne C. Coon (Rodopi B. V., 2008). And, on page 60 of that collection, I find "Fibonacci Time Lines" by Kansas poet Michael L.Johnson -- the poem is a lovely weave of the Fibonacci numbers with objects they count (and was originally published in The Unicorn Captured (Cottonwood Review Press, 1980)) and, with the poet's permission, is offered below.
Fibonacci Time Lines by Michael Johnson
cat's
claw's
curl, pine
cone's swirl, goat's
horn's turn, nautilus'
shell's homing out, pineapple's whorl,
sneezewort's branchings, hair's twist, parrot's beak's growth,
elephant's
tusk's curve, monkey's tail's spiral, cochlea's whirl of sound,
Vitruvius' analogies,
Parthenon's geometry, logarithms' golden sections, time's way
through form, mind's acceleration on its helical vector
to death . . .
Here is a link to a host of poems linked to the Fibonacci numbers and found in earlier postings in this blog.
Fibonacci Time Lines by Michael Johnson
cat's
claw's
curl, pine
cone's swirl, goat's
horn's turn, nautilus'
shell's homing out, pineapple's whorl,
sneezewort's branchings, hair's twist, parrot's beak's growth,
elephant's
tusk's curve, monkey's tail's spiral, cochlea's whirl of sound,
Vitruvius' analogies,
Parthenon's geometry, logarithms' golden sections, time's way
through form, mind's acceleration on its helical vector
to death . . .
Here is a link to a host of poems linked to the Fibonacci numbers and found in earlier postings in this blog.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
A self, divided
On this very humid summer morning it is a treat to be drawn by Virginia poet Joan Mazza's poem to the chill of a winter morning as the poet divides her energies, measuring her world using fractions.
Fractions by Joan Mazza
Half awake at 5 AM, I leave my half of a warm bed
and quilts to the dog, hold the banister to descend
the narrow stairs. The woodstove’s still warm,
only one-tenth the coals aglow under their blanket
of gray ashes. I’ve half a mind to let it be, use electric,
only a quarter more cost than wood. No labor.
Clean heat, with some say one hundredth
the pollution I contribute with my stove.
Fractions by Joan Mazza
Half awake at 5 AM, I leave my half of a warm bed
and quilts to the dog, hold the banister to descend
the narrow stairs. The woodstove’s still warm,
only one-tenth the coals aglow under their blanket
of gray ashes. I’ve half a mind to let it be, use electric,
only a quarter more cost than wood. No labor.
Clean heat, with some say one hundredth
the pollution I contribute with my stove.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Celebrating with a Fib
This
Fib
is to
celebrate
all those people who
connect poetry and math -- CHEERS!
Fib
is to
celebrate
all those people who
connect poetry and math -- CHEERS!
For more about Fibs, do a SEARCH of this blog -- or, for one rich source, go here.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Time comes quantized . . .
Earlier this month, I saw a poem ("Time/text") by wonderful Canadian poet and friend Alice Major on Facebook and she has given me permission to offer it here. It is from her first book of poetry, Time Travels Light, (Rowan Books, 1992).
Time/text by Alice Major
Time comes quantized
in little books pocked
with fifteen-minute intervals
that mark my progress
through the day —
Niggling book of kells
spelling out the duties
and services
peculiar to each hour.
Time/text by Alice Major
Time comes quantized
in little books pocked
with fifteen-minute intervals
that mark my progress
through the day —
Niggling book of kells
spelling out the duties
and services
peculiar to each hour.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Counting What's Left
Recently at the 2018 Split This Rock Poetry Festival, I purchased a copy of ghost fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology edited by poet Melissa Tuckey (University of Georgia Press, 2018) and, below, I offer a sad poem about "counting" from this anthology. There is much to value in this fine anthology; follow this link for more information.
As If Hearing Heavy Furniture Moved on the Floor Above Us
As things grow rarer, they enter the ranges of counting.
Remain this many Siberian tigers,
that many African elephants. Three hundred red egrets.
We scrape from the world its tilt and meander of wonder
as if eating the last burned onions and carrots from a cast iron pan.
Closing eyes to taste better the char of ordinary sweetness.
Hirshfield's poem also is found in the Split This Rock Poetry Database along with many other poems of environmental concern and protest. It was first published in Washington Square Review. This link connects to work by Jane Hirshfield featured in previous postings for this blog.
As If Hearing Heavy Furniture Moved on the Floor Above Us
As things grow rarer, they enter the ranges of counting.
Remain this many Siberian tigers,
that many African elephants. Three hundred red egrets.
We scrape from the world its tilt and meander of wonder
as if eating the last burned onions and carrots from a cast iron pan.
Closing eyes to taste better the char of ordinary sweetness.
Hirshfield's poem also is found in the Split This Rock Poetry Database along with many other poems of environmental concern and protest. It was first published in Washington Square Review. This link connects to work by Jane Hirshfield featured in previous postings for this blog.
Monday, May 21, 2018
Playing with time
Here is a poem that plays with the geometry of time -- a poem that first appeared in Mathematics Magazine, Vol 68, No 6 (December 1995), page 288. Several of my other mathy poems written around that same time were collected in a booklet, My Dance is Mathematics, now out of print but available here on my website.
Finding Time by JoAnne Growney
Points chase points
around the circle,
Anti-clockwise,
fighting time.
You know time's a circle,
rather than a line.
Finding Time by JoAnne Growney
Points chase points
around the circle,
Anti-clockwise,
fighting time.
You know time's a circle,
rather than a line.
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Meeting the horizon line . . .
Poet James Galvin's work is described in this bio as both musical and "profoundly ecological" -- both qualities that strongly draw me to it. The following poem, "Art Class," plays with math terminology -- drifting back and forth between reality and abstraction -- in a way that is fun to read as well as thoughtful. Enjoy!
Art Class by James Galvin
Let us begin with a simple line,
Drawn as a child would draw it,
To indicate the horizon,
More real than the real horizon,
Which is less than line,
Which is visible abstraction, a ratio.
Art Class by James Galvin
Let us begin with a simple line,
Drawn as a child would draw it,
To indicate the horizon,
More real than the real horizon,
Which is less than line,
Which is visible abstraction, a ratio.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Counting to 13
I am a long-time New Yorker subscriber and what a delight it is, occasionally, to open a new issue of the magazine and find that one of their poems has links to mathematics. Such happened for the issue of April 2, 2-18 -- on page 70 of that issue is the poem, "Who Knows One" by Jane Shore.
Shore's poem features thirteen stanzas, one for each of the counting numbers 1, 2, 3, ... 13. The nth stanza has n+2 lines -- except for n=13 -- and that last stanza has n+4 lines.
Thanks, Jane Shore, for playing with numbers!
Readers -- here is stanza 4.
Who knows four. I know four.
What were you doing on all fours?
Three’s the hearts in a ménage à trois.
Two’s the jump ropes in double Dutch.
One is God for God is One—
One good turn deserves another.
Here is a link to the rest of Shore's poem.
Shore's poem features thirteen stanzas, one for each of the counting numbers 1, 2, 3, ... 13. The nth stanza has n+2 lines -- except for n=13 -- and that last stanza has n+4 lines.
Thanks, Jane Shore, for playing with numbers!
Readers -- here is stanza 4.
Who knows four. I know four.
What were you doing on all fours?
Three’s the hearts in a ménage à trois.
Two’s the jump ropes in double Dutch.
One is God for God is One—
One good turn deserves another.
Here is a link to the rest of Shore's poem.
Friday, May 11, 2018
Math gems -- in the imagery of poems
Much of mathematical terminology is of the flexible sort that can create vivid and interesting images in poetry -- and many poets embed jewels of mathematics here and there in their work. Whenever I am with a group of poets it almost always turns out that at least one has poems that feature math terms and ideas. For example, Allyson Lima, a Montgomery College faculty member whom I met at a recent Silver Spring, MD meeting of DC-area translators, shared with me her poem "Turn" -- offered below. At a recent Takoma Park (MD) Community Center Poetry Reading I met retired attorney Richard Lorr and he has shared with me his poem, "Sweet Crumbs." At an Arlington, VA reading of prize-winning poems to appear on busses, I met dentist Eric Forsbergh and learned of his poem about DNA-Testing, "Police will Swab Your Cheek." PLEASE, scroll down, read, Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Appreciation of Teachers (this week and FOREVER)
This is National Teacher Appreciation Week
Celebrate your teachers with poems
This link leads to a poem (previously posted) that celebrates four of my teachers -- Miriam Ayer, Laura Church, T. K. Pan (all math teachers) and Elinor Blair.Celebrate your teachers with poems
Here is a link to a poem by a favorite poetry teacher, Karl Patten.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Statistics and Mindfulness . . .
April was Math-Stat Awareness Month and National Poetry Month -- and here in this blog we celebrate those topics year-round -- today with a selection from Larry Lesser, professor at the University of Texas at El Paso, and first published at the website of The American Statistical Association.
Mindful Means by Lawrence M. Lesser
An explanatory variable has a response and
The space
Before response is deemed
Freedom,
Sought by degrees:
More time to reflect
If randomness is
Uniform, if correlation is
Causal, chance, or complexity yet
Unnamed.
Mindful Means by Lawrence M. Lesser
An explanatory variable has a response and
The space
Before response is deemed
Freedom,
Sought by degrees:
More time to reflect
If randomness is
Uniform, if correlation is
Causal, chance, or complexity yet
Unnamed.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Counting on . . . and on . . .
Claudia Gary is an active and celebrated poet in the Washington, DC area and she has a lifelong interest in mathematics -- starting, she tells me, "at age 8 when my father gave me a copy of George Gamow's One, Two, Three, Infinity." Her poem, "In Binary," offered below, was first published in Rattle and features her and poet Richard Moore (1927-2009) who also was fascinated by mathematics. Enjoy the fun of counting on and on, in verse.
In Binary by Claudia Gary
001
What brought them together were gifts without number,
but binary digits enticed them to stay.
A system that each had discovered in childhood
cemented their fate at an offbeat café.
010
For her it was somewhat like playing piano.
He would make loops as if stringing small beads.
Both had departed the realm of addition,
since shapes, such as hands, had geometry’s needs.
011
While nursing their coffee and ordering breakfast,
asking more questions and ordering tea,
learning how deeply their temperaments nested,
each counted on fingers to ten-twenty-three.
In Binary by Claudia Gary
001
What brought them together were gifts without number,
but binary digits enticed them to stay.
A system that each had discovered in childhood
cemented their fate at an offbeat café.
010
For her it was somewhat like playing piano.
He would make loops as if stringing small beads.
Both had departed the realm of addition,
since shapes, such as hands, had geometry’s needs.
011
While nursing their coffee and ordering breakfast,
asking more questions and ordering tea,
learning how deeply their temperaments nested,
each counted on fingers to ten-twenty-three.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Embrace both art and mathematics
A recent news article in The Hofstra Chronicle opens with a statement attributed to John Adams that begins something like this:
I must study Politiks and War that my sons
may have liberty to study ...
And then, questions begin --
is it painting and poetry
or mathematics and philosophy that should follow.
But why must a divide be proposed?
Whether mathematics or painting or philosophy or poetry, let us connect the best thoughts of each -- let our STEM be STEAM. In this vein, consider the opening stanza of "To Divine Proportion,"a sonnet by Rafael Alberti (translated from the Spanish by Carolyn Tipton):
I must study Politiks and War that my sons
may have liberty to study ...
And then, questions begin --
is it painting and poetry
or mathematics and philosophy that should follow.
But why must a divide be proposed?
Whether mathematics or painting or philosophy or poetry, let us connect the best thoughts of each -- let our STEM be STEAM. In this vein, consider the opening stanza of "To Divine Proportion,"a sonnet by Rafael Alberti (translated from the Spanish by Carolyn Tipton):
Thursday, April 26, 2018
A Poem for My Pocket
5
April 26 is "Poem in Your Pocket Day" for 2018
This poem is in my pocket!
The Great Figure by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city.
This link leads to several of my previous "Poem in Your Pocket" choices.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Move beyond dislike to the genuine . . .
National Mathematics-Statistics Awareness Month
One of the sad similarities between mathematics and poetry is that both are subjects many people dislike -- with reasons such as "I'm lousy at ___" or "I don't get it" or "It's stupid -- who needs it?" Lots of us are trying to change that.
The title for this posting is the opening line of "Poetry" by Marianne Moore (1887-1972) -- and the poem goes on like this:
I, too, dislike it.
Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
it, after all, a place for the genuine.
Allow yourself to look for the special, to find it.
Celebrate the genuine in poetry and in mathematics.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Poetry sometimes OPPOSES mathematics!
One of the finest historians of mathematics is Judith V. Grabiner, professor emerita of Pitzer College; here is a link to one of her thoughtful and widely informative articles, "The Centrality of Mathematics in the History of Western Thought," (originally published in Mathematics Magazine, 1988).
Toward the end of this article is a section with the header "Opposition." It opens with this statement:
The best proof of the centrality of mathematics is that
every example of its influence given so far
has provoked strong and significant opposition.
Grabiner includes the voices of poets among the resisters. She mentions Walt Whitman becoming "tired and sick" and leaving to look at the stars in "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" and quotes stanza from William Wordsworth's "The Tables Turned." Wordsworth's condemnation of learning as an opponent to nature ends with these stanzas:
Toward the end of this article is a section with the header "Opposition." It opens with this statement:
The best proof of the centrality of mathematics is that
every example of its influence given so far
has provoked strong and significant opposition.
Grabiner includes the voices of poets among the resisters. She mentions Walt Whitman becoming "tired and sick" and leaving to look at the stars in "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" and quotes stanza from William Wordsworth's "The Tables Turned." Wordsworth's condemnation of learning as an opponent to nature ends with these stanzas:
Labels:
Judith Grabiner,
Walt Whitman,
William Wordsworth
Monday, April 16, 2018
Mathy three-liners -- thoughts for today
When two negatives meet,
is the pair more
or less negative?
For almost any question,
almost every number
is the wrong answer.
The irrational numbers
are more numerous than
the rational ones.
Steal the same amount
from both sides of the equation
if you wish not to be found out.
Which is better --
a large number
or a rational one?
is the pair more
or less negative?
For almost any question,
almost every number
is the wrong answer.
The irrational numbers
are more numerous than
the rational ones.
Steal the same amount
from both sides of the equation
if you wish not to be found out.
Which is better --
a large number
or a rational one?
Nothing is.
Friday, April 13, 2018
Interview with mathy poets . . .
Philadelphia mathematician and poet Marion Cohen has worked with Sundress Publications to prepare an interview offering MATH-POETRY viewpoints from three other mathematician-poets and herself -- including me and Sarah Glaz, recently retired in the mathematics department at the University of Connecticut, and Gizem Karaali, in the mathematics department at Pomona College. All of these math-women have numerous books, articles, and so on -- and I invite you to follow the links associated with their names and also to go here to read the Sundress interview (which does, at the end, include several poems).
Each of these math-poetry women has been featured often in this blog -- and, in addition to reading the interview, I urge you to click on their names to explore these links: Marion Cohen Sarah Glaz Gizem Karaali
I close with a link to an article of mine, "Mathematics in Poetry, " published by the MAA a bit more than ten years ago -- an easy read that has generated some recent attention.
Each of these math-poetry women has been featured often in this blog -- and, in addition to reading the interview, I urge you to click on their names to explore these links: Marion Cohen Sarah Glaz Gizem Karaali
I close with a link to an article of mine, "Mathematics in Poetry, " published by the MAA a bit more than ten years ago -- an easy read that has generated some recent attention.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Celebrate Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (1914-2010) was a friend to mathematics and made many aspects of the subject available to a wide audience for twenty-five years in a Scientific American column , "Mathematical Games" -- material later collected in a variety of books. I have featured Gardner's connections to math-poetry in several previous blog postings -- and today I want to mention an event happening this weekend (April 11-15, in Decatur, Georgia), the 13th Annual Gathering for Gardner. Lots of math-fun is on the agenda -- and a bit of poetry.
On Sunday, April 15, Professor Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University will lecture on “Poetry, Drumming, and Mathematics.” Bhargava won the Fields Medal, which is one of the highest honors for a mathematician. More information about the annual gatherings for Gardner is available here.
In closing, noting the coming of spring with its April celebration of both mathematics and poetry, here are a few lines of verse -- the opening stanza from an old poem of mine entitled "Time."
The clock goes round --
making time a circle
rather than a line.
Each year's return to spring
layers time on time.
On Sunday, April 15, Professor Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University will lecture on “Poetry, Drumming, and Mathematics.” Bhargava won the Fields Medal, which is one of the highest honors for a mathematician. More information about the annual gatherings for Gardner is available here.
In closing, noting the coming of spring with its April celebration of both mathematics and poetry, here are a few lines of verse -- the opening stanza from an old poem of mine entitled "Time."
The clock goes round --
making time a circle
rather than a line.
Each year's return to spring
layers time on time.
A second part of "Time" is available here.
Both are collected in Red Has No Reason (Plain View Press, 2010).
Monday, April 9, 2018
March for Our Lives -- Numbers and complexities!
One of the very moving recent events in my life was the "March for Our Lives" in Washington a couple of weeks ago. Passionate AND thoughtful speeches by young people that will, I hope, lead to moral and legislative action. One of the stars whose performance complemented those of the young speakers is Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the current and popular musical "Hamilton"; seeing Miranda at the March reminded me of a poem of protest sent to me by Australian poet Erica Jolly a few months ago. Jolly's poem draws from an essay by Matthew Peppe in the Special Issue of Lapham's Quarterly about Alexander Hamilton and contrasts the character of the theatrical Hamilton with the behavior of the character who inspired him. (This link to the blog "John's Space" offers additional background information.) Thank you, Erica, for this moving use of numbers!
Daddy Yankee:
The Irony of ‘Hamilton’
Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s
Advocacy for Puerto Rico
about Alexander Hamilton in Lapham’s Quarterly.
I draw in my breath in disbelief.
How does one take in all those numbers?
How is it possible for an island of this size
to have a debt of seventy six billion dollars?
Daddy Yankee:
The Irony of ‘Hamilton’
Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s
Advocacy for Puerto Rico
by Erica Jolly (December 2017)
An essay by Matthew Peppe found in the Special Issueabout Alexander Hamilton in Lapham’s Quarterly.
I draw in my breath in disbelief.
How does one take in all those numbers?
How is it possible for an island of this size
to have a debt of seventy six billion dollars?
Labels:
Erica Jolly,
Lin-Manuel Miranda,
March for Our Lives
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Bits of Geometry -- from a "Phenomenal Woman"
Today's Google Doodle beautifully reminds us that this day is the 90th anniversary of the birth of Dr Maya Angelou (1928-2014) -- and in the Doodle Angelou is celebrated with a recording of her poem, "Still I Rise." A recording of "Still I Rise" also is available from a push-button within a recently erected bronze statue of Angelou, "Maya's Mind" by Mischell Riley -- on 17th Street in Washington, DC, through December 2018 and part of an exhibit sponsored by the Renwick Gallery.
The text of "Still I Rise" is available here at PoetryFoundation.org. As I noted in an earlier post, "Phenomenal Woman," Angelou's poetry is full of the generous geometry of womanhood -- here are a few lines from that poem:
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
From Angelou's Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women (Random House, 1994).
![]() |
"Maya's Mind" by Mischell Riley |
The text of "Still I Rise" is available here at PoetryFoundation.org. As I noted in an earlier post, "Phenomenal Woman," Angelou's poetry is full of the generous geometry of womanhood -- here are a few lines from that poem:
It's in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
From Angelou's Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women (Random House, 1994).
Monday, April 2, 2018
Split This Rock Poetry Festival, April 19-21, 2018
For poems and poets that speak out FOR rights, AGAINST injustice,
attend the biennial SPLIT THIS ROCK Poetry Festival!
Festival information is available here.
Split This Rock maintains a hugs poetry database, available here.
One of this year's Festival's featured poets is Sharon Olds who was, a few years ago, my poetry teacher. This link leads to an introduction to Olds and to a stanza from one of her poems that celebrates math-girls.
. . .
indivisible as
a prime number
. . .
Friday, March 30, 2018
Celebrate life -- BILLIONS of heartbeats
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
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
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 . . .
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