New Singularity

This post is a new version of the proportional poem posted December 13, 2010.

Mathematical Poets at the Bowery Poetry Club NYC

A couple of things of importance concerning the mathematical graffiti wall. The first being a new video of the wall produced by John Sims, the hippest voice in mathematical art – check it out below.


The second is some wonderful photos of the event that Geof Huth just released. (Thank you Geof!) – They can be seen below.

Here is John’s announcement of the event.


Here is a photo of John Sims introducing the event.


Here is Stephanie Strickland reading her response to the wall.


Here is Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino talking cubist poetry


Here is Bob Grumman reading his Poem’s Poem

Here I am talking about Similar Triangles Poems (Which is the type of Poem I put on the wall)


Here is Richard Kostelanetz after his talk about the history of his work.


Here is a group photo



Here is Geof making a contribution to the wall


Here is Geof and Bobs contribution


Here is JoAnne in front of the wall.


Here are some folks checking out the wall/


Here is a photo of the Kumbaya fest at Starbuck’s afterward. What a great time we had chatting about our common interests. (Left to Right) Geof Huth, Bob Grumman, JoAnne Growney, Arnold Skemer, Kaz Maslanka, Karen Orlin, and Richard Kostelanetz

At the Bowery Poetry Club NYC

I got back from NYC last week after being invited by John Sims to participate in the “Mathematical Graffiti Wall” at the Bowery Poetry Club. I scrawled out my proportional poem titled “Afghanistan” on the wall as well as giving a short lecture intended to impart the necessary tools to access the piece. Below is an (poor quality)image of me delivering my lecture -- you can see Poet/Historian Richard Kostelanetz underneath me and mathematical / visual poet Bob Grumman to his right. I am not sure who was wearing the white hat.
After the gig myself, Richard Kostelanetz, Geof Huth, Bob Grumman, JoAnne Growney, and others went for coffee and discussion – I think we all had a great time - I certainly did.


Here is a photo of the wall taken from the stage.


Here is my poem Afghanistan

And you can see it here inked onto the wall.

Speaking of graffiti – here is a photo I shot in the men’s room at the bowery poetry club.



On another note the day before I gave my lecture I went to MOMA to see my old friends (The Tanguy, Magritte, Ernst, Dali, and De Chirico paintings) - I went up to pay my twenty dollars when the man behind the counter told me if I waited twenty minutes I could get in free. He said that I just need to wait in line outside. It was quite a long line and as we were coming in I noticed Bob Grumman about seven people up in front of me. So as fate turned out, I ended up hanging out with him as we viewed the art work. I had a nice chat with him as we covered a lot of territory in our discussions. Below is a photo of him and me in front of the De Chirico Painting “Gare Montparnasse” (The Melancholy of Departure).

John Sim's Mathematical Graffiti Wall

John Sim's Mathematical Grafitti Wall is taking shape at the Bowery Poetry Club in NYC. If you are Mathy and in NYC drop by an put your favorite equation on the wall. If you are in the NYC area on July 10 2010 drop by for a night of Mathematical Poetry Reading with visuals. There will be all of the most active Equational Mathematical Poets in America reading there!

Number Poems and Richard Kostelanetz

A Number Poem is a visual formation of numbers who have a verifiable mathematical relationship to each other. The main poetic element in number poems is rhythm or pattern and can be seen by repetitions of certain numbers or operations. Number poems function correctly only when the rules of mathematics are observed. (And in this case Arithmetic)


The following number poems are early works from the Poet/writer Richard Kostelanetz. These works are from the early 1970’s and he was kind enough to share them with us.

The following is titled "Parallel Intervals"




This piece is titled "Two Intervals II"

Rhythm of Structure

John Sims has been putting together a series of mathart events in NYC which will occur at different times throughout the year. I am looking forward to an event later this next summer for which Richard Kostelanetz, Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino, Bob Grumman, Stephane Strickland and myself will be involved. To get on Johns Mailing list - contact him @ RhythmOfStructure@gmail.com