Math poetry?

One of the more controversial forms of poetry I have stumbled across in my random internet wanderings is the Fibonacci poem. This form bases itself around the Fibonacci sequence which orders itself 0,1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. In case you aren’t a math person and thereby familiar with this concept, the sequence is created by adding the preceding two numbers to come up with the next number. For instance, 0 + 1 = 1 and then 1 + 1 = 2. Once discovered this sequence began popping up everywhere from tree rings to spirals in conch shells. Nature operates around the Fibonacci number, some claim

So how does this relate at all to poetry? It seems that someone decided this formula could be applied to poetry and so created Fibonacci poems. Since lots of natural elements revolve around this sequence, writers working with the sequence could be said to mimic nature (like many poets before them) but in a completely revolutionary way….using MATH, the high school pitfall of many an aspiring poets. Whether the numbers are reflected in the syllables or words per line, lots of people are trying out this strange connection.

Now back to the first sentence of this post which you may have forgotten…why is this controversial? I was slightly miffed when I first read about this form because it seems this engenders the idea that there can be a formula for a successful poem. “It’s like the movement sweeping the food industry, “It’s natural, it might taste terrible, but it’s natural so it must be the right way to go.” I’m not saying that these poems taste terrible, on the contrary I say “check it out at http://poetry.about.com/od/poeticforms/a/fibonaccipoems.htm” but also I feel the need to stress there is no formula for poetry, no sequence that promises a perfect poem every time.

Haik-who?

One of the oldest and most venerated forms of poetry happens to be the haiku; a Japanese poetic form that requires three lines, each with a set number of syllables. The first and third lines contain five syllables and the middle line contains seven. Each haiku usually contains a specific seasonal reference and often shifts from one perspective to another within the tight confines of the three line limit. Since the form is so restrictive and traditional, many people count haiku with the sonnet, something to dread and never ever use. However, at my college and in certain sites on the web, people are stepping this unpopular form. Modernizing haiku and making it an accessible template for new poets to play with is a definite step in the right direction. My college hosts an annual "Haiku Death match" in which all students are invited to write haiku and compete for a year's worth of bragging rights. Many students (and teachers) join in and the results are hilarious. From Brittney Spears to the bailout, no topic is safe from these aspiring haiku masters. The match is in February and I will post some of the best (and worst) haiku then. You'll be able to vote for the one you think should have won or try writing some of your own. Keep an eye out!

Also, for a blog that I think is really having fun with this form check out the daily beer haiku's in the links section!

Here a line...there a line...

Ever since I statred looking at commercials as more than just a horribly annoying side effect of all the twenty-first century advancement, I have been flabbergasted by some of the really great lines out there.There is a wealth of catchy, suprising, exciting and sometimes provoking lines. However, I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me either so this post is going to include a collection of my favorite commercial tag lines...just so you can see and believe. Also, since my last post promised a poem but I couldn't get the link set up properly I am putting it at the bottom of this post. It's all cell phone commercials.

For your reading enjoyment
(see if you can guess where they all come from..bet you know more than you think...)

Higher standards, lower prices

What you crave

Think outside the bun

Like a good neighbor, state farm is there

We’ll leave the light on for you

When you’re here, your family

All state, you’re in good hands

Where kids have the power

Navy, accelerate your life

America runs on Dunkins

Taste the rainbow

I’m thinking Arby’s

How you want it

Priceless

Stop dreaming, start playing

Sour, sweet, gone

Down on the farm

Give it to the world

There’s a captain in you

You can do it, we can help

Taste the power of the sun

When you need it most

Dirty mouth? Clean it up, with Orbitz

Tastes like a soda, kicks like an energy drink

A nose in need deserves puffs indeed

Very funny

Every kiss begins with K

It’s in the game

Everybody needs a little

Save money, live better

Shouldn’t your baby be a gerber baby?

Mighty putty does it all

Is it in you?

USA, we know drama

Throw boring overboard

Love pink

Lego my ego

Get to it

Pepper in some flavor

Pure life

Nothing works better

Earn your stripes

Sonic good

Color your world, naturally

Come outback tonight

I want to be a toys R us kid

Raising the bar

Eat great, even late

Power to the players

Bazuka zuka bubble gum

Nothing will ever be the same

You All Know What I’m Talking About

Two Hundred and sixty three million mouths sit
On top of four heads under the tree of the knowledge
Of good and evil asking each other on the hour whether anyone
Can hear yet through the whistling
Of kinetic energy humming from Atlanta to Salem

Nobody believes in witches whispering secrets to loudly babbling brooks anymore because America’s largest network makes everyone slightly supernatural.

Nobody that is, except the Amish neighbors who
Glare at me through hemstitched curtains on Wednesdays
Obviously caring that something has started growing out of my head
In the way other mothers care about the sex offender registry

There’s nothing wrong with rollover minutes I tell myself, trying to overcome the expectation of a larger amount of communication, then I in my isolation, can stomach

Five ghosts -- past present future might-have-been and loss--
Stalk the borders of cages built on the goals of middle management
not dissimilar to the ringleader of a nineteen fifties freak show
only this time we can see from both sides of the bars

If only the security of doorbells existed in the polarized lines between invisible cities
we could travel without feathers through the air like in days before the idea of God

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for...

So, commercials. Commercials, in my opinion, are the best barometers of the cultural moment we have available to us. How people sell or promote stuff works around the retail Golden Rule: "Give the people what they want." Nobody, not even the long reach of Uncle Sam can understand better what people want then advertisers and their ilk.

That being said, the connection to poetry works like this:
Commercials need to "sound appealing" - principles like alliteration, creative word choice, emphatic pauses and most commonly metaphors and compelling or startling images come into play both in well-designed commercials and well-written poetry. The idea that certain words can come together to form a line that "sinks" or "deepens" or is punchy or magical (fill in your favorite word for great poetry here) also helps commercial designers come up with slogans people will remember. What is poetry but a creative arrangement of words that works to reflect, unmask, discover or otherwise reveal something about the humanity of the moment. So do commercials. Creepy, yes but also interesting I think.

For some examples of "commercial poetry" check out the Awful Dynne link.

Salutations and Explanations

"I am KAKOFONOUS A. DISCHORD, DOCTOR OF DISSONANCE..."
"What does the 'A' stand for?"
"AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE,..."
"But who would want all those terrible noises?" asked Milo.
"Everybody does. They're very popular today. Why I'm so busy I
can hardly fill the orders for the noise pills, racket lotion,
clamor salve, and hubbub tonic. That's all people seem to want
these days.
"Business wasn't always so good," the doctor continued. "Years ago,
everyone wanted pleasant sounds and, except for a few orders during
wars and earthquakes, things were very bad. But then the big cities
were built and there was a great need for honking horns, screeching
trains, clanging bells, deafening shouts, piercing shrieks, gurgling
drains, and all the rest of those wonderfully unpleasant sounds we
use so much of today..."
"This is my assistant, the awful DYNNE," said Dr. Dischord.
"What is a DYNNE?" asked Milo...
"You mean you've never met the awful DYNNE before?" said Dr.
Dischord in a surprised tone. "Why, I thought everyone had. When
you're playing in your room and making a great amount of noise, what
do they tell you to stop?"
"That awful din," admitted Milo.
"When the neighbors are playing their radio too loud, late at
night, what do you wish they'd turn down?"
"The awful din," answered Tock.
"When the street on your block is being repaired and the pneumatic
drills are working all day, what does everyone complain of?"
"The dreadful row," volunteered the Humbug brightly.
"The dreadful RAUW,' cried the anguished DYNNE, "was my
grandfather. He perished in the great silence epidemic of 1712”
– “The Phantom Tollbooth”

If you have read the abovementioned book you will have no doubt noted both the title of this blog and the signature I have adopted are characters from the work. If you haven’t read the book, I chose to “borrow” because the theme is relevant to the purpose of this blog and because I really think it’s an amazing book and I wanted to give it some publicity. Like the main character in “Tollbooth” I am interested in finding ways to keep things interesting, staying out of the Doldrums so to speak, especially in regards to poetry. Hopefully I can provide some compelling and catalyzing information and insight regarding poetry as a genre and its role in today’s very un-poetic society. I really want to open up the conversation and let other, perhaps less traditional voices speak about poetic imagery, form, language and function. So check out the links, argue, agree, rave, rant and otherwise comment on the posts and try some interesting forms of poetry yourself on the site!