Once lost, the laws might be derived again When necessary, or so you’ve been told. You’re half asleep in January sun. Just out of sight, someone starts bugging you And Steller’s jays. Green hills, blue weather, — noon To bring out Panpipes, but it’s too damn cold. Profligate sunlight’s more or less a waste, […]
Jaime Woolery
Jaime Woolery (who sometimes writes under the name Jamie Irons) is a semi-retired physician. He teaches mathematics to high school and junior college students up through calculus and linear algebra, which he does for free, so that his little group in the Napa Valley, Surfer Math, can have some scholarship students. Jamie's book, By Parked Cars, was praised by John Ashbery.
For Showers of Meteors and Hours of Rain
We’ve waited patiently, and once again It seems we’ve lost our compass—going north We’ll have to find the north star… stars rain light On just and unjust gazers—new ideas Blow in, ideas local philosophers Could use, as soon as they’ve got time. Most non-philosophers just don’t “get” time… Happily, I’m here with you. Things we don’t speak Of—at least not aloud—outline us […]
The Age of Miracles Hasn’t Passed
For a while we caught the spirit of things as they had drifted in the past. And we got to know them really well. Cobwebs sailed above the shore… –John Ashbery You know what makes me happy? Bach, and birds. And children, even when they’re ill-behaved. I’ve spoken with the parents, and the wind […]
CASUS (KELHAM BEACH)
For Charles Entrekin “Insula, insulae…” As an exercise, exaggerate in Latin. I was getting used to the idea of walking, reading the text down through the forest to the sea— Think how impressed you’ll be when I can quote Catullus! Passer, Passerculus, Passerella… The woods are […]
Regret About the Goldbach Conjecture
The Goldbach Conjecture, that every even integer greater than 2 can be expressed as the sum of two prime numbers, was first stated by the historian and amateur mathematician Christian Goldbach in a letter written in 1742 to Leonhard Euler (1707-1783). It is a nice example of why I find the theory of numbers so […]
Sheep May Safely Graze
after J.S. Bach (1865-1750) for Nina My efforts at writing are mainly about gratitude. Of course, being grateful doesn’t protect one from possible loss. There are always threats, and if one plants a vineyard at the edge of a glacier, it is hard to ignore that fact of life. How slowly should we go, the […]