Fibonacci poems
April 19th, 2006 | Gregory K. Pincus, author of the blog GottaBook, has invented what might be the coolest form of poetry since the haiku.1 He calls them “fibs”, named because of their syllabic relation to the Fibonacci sequence, a pattern in which the next number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers. The first few numbers in the pattern are 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34… and so on. For example:
One
Small,
Precise,
Poetic,
Spiraling mixture:
Math plus poetry yields the Fib.
You dig? The standard fib is 6 lines with the syllables of the lines being 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8, respectively, but they can get pretty long. I have written a few, and I would encourage you to do so as well. You can leave them in the comments. The following are a couple of my own fibs:
Books,
Books,
More books.
So many!
What’s a boy to do?
Take ‘em one at a time, I guess.
Small
Bear:
A cub.
Many cubs:
Well, a baseball club.
The Cardinals2… what’s all the hubub?
For
Peace?
No doubt:
Bonhoeffer.
Plot to kill Hitler?
Surprisingly, also D.B.
“I
Do,”
They said.
Thus, were wed.
Soon after to bed.
Anxious, the reception they fled.
I could go on, but I shan’t. What fibs can you create? I suspect Peter would enjoy this.
- I know this sounds preposterous, but really… how many forms of poetry have been invented since the haiku? No seriously… I have no idea. ↩
- Two syllables, i.e. “card-nulls”. ↩
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Cool site, Jacob. I’ve never heard of fibs before. I’m sure DB would be honored to be the subject of one of your fibs. Perhaps you’ll write another fib about DB’s views regarding lies (fibs) and telling the truth!
Best,
JMS
Basketball
Beat Jake
Champion
Of the Universe
But he made the shots In fourteen.
Hahaha. I already screwed it up.
I
Don’t
Really
Like to write
Poems of any sort
So here’s my fib… I think it sucks!
School…
Class…
my ass.
this s dumb.
is it al worth it?
i’d rather stay in bed instead.
this was written in sociology. which i hate.
so i’m sorry it’s a bit negative towards the academic institution.
These are great! Well, except Tom’s. He’s an English major, too.
Brittany, I wrote one in Greek that is almost as negative:
Dead Languages by Jake Bouma
Greek
and
Latin
are both dead.
Only geeks know them.
Sadly, I am fluent in both.
Jake,
this
might be
my fav’rite
post on your website.
pretty excited for summer.
and by pretty, i mean, extremely. but, that was just too many syllables :)
Jake,
Jake.
My word!
What is the deal?
Be sure to do your homework!
Mom,
Mom.
My word!
Truthfully,
I thought you were smart.
It goes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.
Good Fibbing! I always ignored my dad and never learned Latin, so you’re two dead languages up on me (though I knew BASIC at one point. Does that count?).
Thanks for the link and the Fibs on my blog and here. Fib on!
I’m going to try again….This is in response to Brittney’s about Sociology, which she hates. Mine is about Sociology, which I love.
Race
Class
Gender
My Topics
Here we find problems
And blame them on the rich people.
Need
food?
How ’bout
a taco?
Sabor Latino!
This is going to hit the spot!
He
ate
alone
everyday
next to the trash bins
and talked to his lunchbox sandwich.
They
laughed
Aloud
callously,
whispered mockeries
slowly, silently stripped his soul
Hope
held
his hand
faithfully
when he could not reach.
He saw the world in shades of grey.
All
stared
at him
vacantly,
his eyes hid behind
the sanctuary of his tears.
Face
hot,
aware.
Nervous knees
fingers fidgeting
Resilient to deafening hate
Trudged
home
under
weighted words,
their daily routine
slinking behind in his shadow.
Help
called
faintly
from darkened
bruises laid blindly.
Invisible. Unaudible.
Each
day
showing
his courage
to walk in big shoes
with gentle steps and feet so small.
Late
Night
Homework
Revising
Religion Essay
Brunsdale’s peaceful at 4 A.M.
I am so stupid.