A Mathematical Poem

a creative writing post (#31)

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This is a creative writing post (#31) from my occasional series for paid subscribers, who can also leave comments on most posts. As always, email hollymathnerd at gmail dot com if you would like a paid subscription but can’t afford one.

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This is a poem I wrote with a magnetic poetry set, and likely to be the only good poem I’ll ever write. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to expressing something of how and why I regard mathematics to be sacred. Those of you who are poetry people but not math people will at least sense the depth, I hope, just as I hope the math people are in for a treat.

Work-work has me stressed out of my mind and I’m unlikely to write anything new for awhile, so I thought I’d share this instead. Enjoy.

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mathematics

find the limit of infinity as it grows to insight
logic unravels human ignorance
subtleties integrate on a continuum of beauty
the derivative of ego is 0

f(x) = a girl whose father understands the world
b(f(x)) = she becomes a young woman, algebra her magical boyfriend
a(b(f(x))) = her conscious calculus of virtue only
to find reality's meaning

I solved the distance equation flying to learn
bold obtuse angles extend between love and peace
grace is an asymptote on the complex coordinate

to know mathematics is to understand the power
of silence

the magnetic poetry with which I wrote this poem