3.14159 26535 89793 23846…

It is Pi Day, that is in the states where we write today’s date 3/14 it is. (Another fun fact is that Einstein was born on this day in 1879.) In another life of mine I sometimes teach math. Kids of all ages have heard of Pi and are fascinated with it. I have had them write Pi-etry and Pi-ku using the digits of Pi to determine either syllable or word-count. Below is my take, using the first 21 digits to dictate syllable count. The second poem is my more free form ode to Pi, or M’ode à la Pi . 

My math students did a remarkable job of writing with the Pi-ku challenge. I challenge you to take a cross-curricular leap and use Pi or the digit sequence of Pi as your inspiration to write a poem today. Use as many or as few digits as you wish, but keep them in order. The possibilities for this are endless; google for more digits. Your poem could be about math or Einstein, but it doesn’t have to be. The possibilities for your poetry are endless.

***                       

Understand

Ah!

Math is language…

Ah…

Elegant language

Beautifully written, spoken by

Nature.

Patterns, balance, ratios

endlessly repeat

planet song

earth, water, fire, air

elemental singing Planet

forgive our great illiteracies

and our crude utterances

deaf, blind, and mute to elegant song

notes of truth

of hope

of balance

possible yet in this our world

if only we

could read the planet’s song.

***

Pi = c/d

Pi is irrational

But makes a circle indomitable

This figure without sides

Why would anyone divide

One measure by another?

Circumference by diameter,

Ends as an endless enterprise

That doesn’t make a circle other-wise.

Is this some circular divinity?

Always dividing to a little more than three,

The quotient going on and on, infinitely…

So are circles incrementally

Ever increasing in size, pi x d?

Oh so wise, circularly!

Pi is irrational

Pi is incomparable,

Pi is part of a mystery.