• Dorothy Livesay -- Mathematics

    From David Dalton@3:633/10 to All on Sun Feb 22 18:18:19 2026
    Here?s a poem by Dorothy Livesay:

    -------

    Mathematics

    I want to play the great dame, darling
    but only you can play it to perfection:
    Much talk.. no bed. Some talk.. some bed
    no talk.. all bed; and talk tomorrow.

    I meant to play the great game, darling
    and hold your bones deep to the root of one
    I meant to play the great game, darling
    but the heart for it is gone.

    -------

    How do you interpret that? I guess there are
    many complex mth roots of 1=2*n*pi, n=0,1,2...
    Also I guess the heart could be a cardioid. :-)

    In the above poem some multiple spaces will
    have been converted to a single space by my
    newsreader Hogwasher, which does not
    allow posting of multiple spaces (or spaces
    at the start of a line) or of multiple blank lines.

    --
    https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
    ?I gave my love a golden feather; I gave my love a heart of stone; When you find a golden feather it means you?ll never lose your way back home?(RR)


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From David Dalton@3:633/10 to All on Sun Feb 22 18:26:13 2026
    On Feb 22, 2026, David Dalton wrote
    (in article<0001HW.2F4BB12301BD66FC30AB5238F@news.eternal-september.org>):

    Here?s a poem by Dorothy Livesay:

    -------

    Mathematics

    I want to play the great dame, darling
    but only you can play it to perfection:
    Much talk.. no bed. Some talk.. some bed
    no talk.. all bed; and talk tomorrow.

    I meant to play the great game, darling
    and hold your bones deep to the root of one
    I meant to play the great game, darling
    but the heart for it is gone.

    -------

    How do you interpret that? I guess there are
    many complex mth roots of 1=2*n*pi, n=0,1,2...

    oops, 1=e^(2*i*n*pi)

    Also I guess the heart could be a cardioid. :-)

    In the above poem some multiple spaces will
    have been converted to a single space by my
    newsreader Hogwasher, which does not
    allow posting of multiple spaces (or spaces
    at the start of a line) or of multiple blank lines.

    --
    https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)
    ?I gave my love a golden feather; I gave my love a heart of stone; When you find a golden feather it means you?ll never lose your way back home?(RR)


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)