Poetry
What a Fascinating Mathematical Sequence of Numbers
Fibonacci poetry is easy if you understand the logic
Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was an intuitive mathematical genius who left India to study at Cambridge and became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Despite having no formal math training:
“He is most famous for his contributions to number theory and infinite series, among them fascinating formulas that can calculate digits of pi in unusual ways.” — Scientific American.
I’m only telling you this because by comparison the Fibonacci sequence is simple arithmetic — no complex theories.
Structuring a Fib poem may confuse one — I battled to master it at first. But it’s fun and you’ll find my latest at the end of this piece.
(This series of numbers has applications in advanced mathematics, nature, statistics, computer science, the golden ratio and agile software development, but let’s stick to poetry!)
Who was Fibonacci?
Although the number sequence was known in India years before, it was the Italian mathematician, Leonardo Bigollo Pisano (1170–1250), (nicknamed Fibonacci meaning Son of Bonacci) who brought it to the West.
As a member of an important trading family, he traveled throughout the Middle East and India, where he observed the mathematical methods used in commerce. He wrote of these discoveries in his book Liber Abaci (1202).
The number sequence was later named after Fibonacci.
His other major contribution to Western mathematics was the spread of Hindu/Arabic numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9) instead of the cumbersome Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X).
(Can you imagine the nightmare of arithmetic if we hadn’t switched? And I only know the Romans because I studied Latin at school!)
What is the formula?
You find the next number by adding the two preceding numbers:
0 + 1 = 1
1 + 1 = 2
1 + 2 = 3
2 + 3 = 5
3 + 5 = 8
5 + 8 = 13
8 + 13 = 21
13 + 21 = 38
I’ll stop there!
In 2006 Gregory K. Pincus founded Fib poetry as a 6-line poem using the Fibonacci sequence of numbers as the syllable count. His pattern was 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13.
You may wonder why lines 1 and 2 have one syllable — that puzzled me when I wrote my first Fib. I confused the formula with the sequence 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. Thus, there is no title (0), then you continue with the relevant syllable count for each line.
I have extended my Fib Spiral poem to 21 syllables and hope you enjoy the result!
Backstory
My husband and I live on the southern slopes of a mountain with a view of the valley below, where a farmer grows organic vegetables against a backdrop of mountains on the far side.
One evening last week a thunderstorm threatened — loads of thunder and lightning behind the distant peaks, followed by strong winds. But it traveled east, bypassing our cottage — leaving a trail of raindrops which soon evaporated in the late afternoon heat.
I thought nothing of the incident until the same happened the next evening.
“The Universe is trying to tell me something.” I told myself.
I coupled this inspiration with my undertaking to Selma to write another Fibonacci poem.
The Loud Thunder Circles me Drums of protection Echo, vibrate across the hills Invite the wind to whisper in my hair, day fading Lightning storm dances, revealing Dolomite mountain Peaks grazing The dark Night Sky
No, I Am not Afraid while Fierce blast conveys A message from the Universe Carried in the roaring current, whooshing past windows, Calms me, as rain rattles on roof “You are not alone You are safe We are Here Now”
Come Let’s Open The faucet Love will flow through us Filling the rivers of our souls Let consciousness stream, unlock our hearts to bleak future If we neglect dear Mother Earth Planet of our birth Without you We shall Not Live
Let’s look after each other and our precious planet!
Thank you for being here.
