Mick Felap: Fibonacci poems
We are delighted to celebrate a rare event - the creation of a wholly new verse form. Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci (1170 - 1250) discovered the sequence of numbers, now named after him, which describes many natural rhythms and patterns of growth. The sequence starts with one and moves to the next number by adding the two previous numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. Mick Delap was attracted to the Fibonacci sequence by the way in which it keeps cropping up at the heart of natural and creative activity. He has used the sequence to celebrate both natural increase and the harmony of the Golden Number which the ratios between Fibonacci numbers closely mirror.
A ad
adam.
Adam: Eve.
And Cain and Abel -
rippling out from the thrown stone,
the babel wave: name, rank, creed and tribe and angry tongues.
Hand
finger
nail - or wing
feather - or pad claw.
Whatever slashes cuffs grips fists
also brushes lightly, strokes, lets fall; trembles, lies still.
Vermeer's Milkmaid
Paint
brush
canvas.
Pouring maid -
pouring milk, herself
into the serene light that pours
itself over bread, basket, wall, and goes on pouring.
Stem
branch,
branch, twig,
pushing leaf;
sand grains building dune;
red heart pumping arteries, lungs'
branched vessels: breath, words, a singing, and the end of song.
www
Start>
Write>
Password>
Open mail>
Search> And already
knowledge’s shaken itself awake,
strong and sharp as the first stone, the first vote ever cast.
Shall I?
I
shall
compare
thee to a...
Summer's day. OK?
But the forecast for May's rough winds;
and darling, the rest of summer's passed its lease by date.
A ad
adam.
Adam: Eve.
And Cain and Abel -
rippling out from the thrown stone,
the babel wave: name, rank, creed and tribe and angry tongues.
Hand
finger
nail - or wing
feather - or pad claw.
Whatever slashes cuffs grips fists
also brushes lightly, strokes, lets fall; trembles, lies still.
Vermeer's Milkmaid
Paint
brush
canvas.
Pouring maid -
pouring milk, herself
into the serene light that pours
itself over bread, basket, wall, and goes on pouring.
Stem
branch,
branch, twig,
pushing leaf;
sand grains building dune;
red heart pumping arteries, lungs'
branched vessels: breath, words, a singing, and the end of song.
www
Start>
Write>
Password>
Open mail>
Search> And already
knowledge’s shaken itself awake,
strong and sharp as the first stone, the first vote ever cast.
Shall I?
I
shall
compare
thee to a...
Summer's day. OK?
But the forecast for May's rough winds;
and darling, the rest of summer's passed its lease by date.
Translated by Mick Delap
Page(s) 61-62
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