We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

2.9.18

Oh, Sweet Mystery

Oh, Sweet Mystery
That
coil:
shell, ear,
cochlea,
unfurling fractal
or visible Mandelbrot set –
is it the building-block of life
(blueprint, pattern, form)?
Symmetry
attracts 
be-
lief.
A double fibonacci (or 'fib') written for Camera FLASH! at 'imaginary garden with real toads', where we are invited to be inspired by this Shell image, which is by Edward Weston and available for Fair Use. (This poem is in the original fibonacci form, based on syllable count.)
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12 comments:

  1. Sanaa Rizvi2 September 2018 at 18:32

    "Symmetry attracts belief" ... sigh... Oh yes! 💜 Wonderful take on the prompt, Rosemary 😊

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  2. Linda Stevenson2 September 2018 at 19:40

    The words following the visual...love this one

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  3. Kerry O'Connor2 September 2018 at 19:42

    A wonderful fibonacci, Rosemary. You kept a good pace throughout, despite the rigours of the syllable count.

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  4. Michelle 2 September 2018 at 20:37

    I love “unfurling fractal” and the end of your poem is lovely.

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  5. Marian3 September 2018 at 00:43

    Wonderful!

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  6. Anmol (HA)3 September 2018 at 00:49

    Quite a lovely specimen of the form — I too loved the last line. I liked the cosmic nature of your verse -- it creates a sense of wonder and deep thought.
    -HA

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  7. brudberg3 September 2018 at 01:42

    Really love the use of cochlea... it ties the symmetry of spirals into self and out to space for me.

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  8. Sherry Blue Sky3 September 2018 at 03:39

    Wonderfully done, my friend. Sorry I am late getting here.

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  9. purplepeninportland.com3 September 2018 at 11:24

    "Symmetry attracts belief" - Love that line, Rosemary.

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  10. Jim3 September 2018 at 12:10

    I like your working 'symmetry' into your symmetrical poem. BTW, my twin sons are mirror image twins. My Android dictionary didn't know "Mandelbrot". I missed some meaning there, but great as a whole.
    ..

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    Replies
    1. Rosemary Nissen-Wade3 September 2018 at 14:56

      You really need an encyclopedia for that.
      This is the simplest (and crudest) explanation: 'a particular set of complex numbers which has a highly convoluted fractal boundary when plotted.' (Google Dictionary.)

      Benoit Mandelbrot postulated the theory, but it could not be plotted, hence not visualised or demonstrated, until we had computers – whereupon, behold, this set of numbers produced those wonderful images we came to call fractals, and a whole new theory.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous4 September 2018 at 08:38

    clever and well done, for the form and using syllable count! phew - and then taking on the complexities of the ideas/theories behind it all? wow - that in itself is more than a mouthful to contemplate, much less pull off as well as you have done here Rosemary! Cheers.

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