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From: will.dockery@gmail.com (W.Dockery)
Newsgroups: alt.arts.poetry.comments,rec.arts.poems
Subject: Re: Dorothy Livesay -- Mathematics poem
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2025 01:36:05 +0000
Organization: novaBBS
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George Dance wrote:

> Jordy C wrote:
>> On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 10:24:16 PM UTC-4, David Dalton wrote:
>>> On Sep 2, 2023, Jordy C wrote
>>> (in article<ebd2c74c-3c0d-4852...@googlegroups.com>):
>>> > On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 8:27:34 PM UTC-4, Will Dockery wrote:
>>> > > On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 7:53:24 PM UTC-4, Jordy C wrote:
>>> > > > On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 7:43:41 PM UTC-4, David Dalton
>>> wrote:
>>> > > > > On Sep 1, 2023, NancyGene wrote
>>> > > > > (in article<0c10e922-e0ee-4271...@googlegroups.com>):
>>> > > > > > On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 4:44:01 AM UTC, David Dalton
>>> wrote:
>>> > > > > > > Here is a poem by Dorothy Livesay from her book
>>> > > > > > > of selected poems, The Self-Completing Tree.
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > --------------
>>> > > > > > > Mathematics
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > I want to play the great game, 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 the poem? In my book I
>>> > > > > > > wrote down lemniscate root of one, perhaps
>>> > > > > > > related to my theory of lemniscate time, but I
>>> > > > > > > have crossed it out. I also wrote down eighth root
>>> > > > > > > of one, where one can be expressed as
>>> > > > > > > e^{2*n*pi*i}, and there are eight eighth roots of one
>>> > > > > > > (there are one two square roots, 1 and -1).
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > Of course the heart could also be a cardioid.
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > I’ll think about it some more but just wanted to
>>> > > > > > > put it forward for discussion for now.
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > Is anyone else on here familiar with Dorothy Livesay?
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > Followup-To set to alt.arts.poetry.comments .
>>> > > > > > >
>>> > > > > > > --
>>> > > > > > > https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the
>>> Thorns (mystic
>>> > > > > > > page)
>>> > > > > > > "And the cart is on a wheel; And the wheel is on a hill;
>>> > > > > > > And the hill is shifting sand; And inside these laws we
>>> stand”
>>> > > > > > > (Ferron)
>>> > > > > >
>>> > > > > > We see that David Dalton has cross-posted this to six other
>>> groups. Spam
>>> > > > > > x 6
>>> > > > > > = Spam
>>> > > > > No, it was cross-posted to six groups including this one,
>>> > > > > four poetry ones and two mathematics ones, all on
>>> > > > > topic, and with Followup-To appropriately set to this
>>> > > > > group for discussion.
>>> > > > > --
>>> > > > > https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns
>>> (mystic
>>> > > > > page)
>>> > > > > "And the cart is on a wheel; And the wheel is on a hill;
>>> > > > > And the hill is shifting sand; And inside these laws we stand”
>>> (Ferron)
>>> > > > Nice to see you again, David! Remember you from a group about 7 or
>>> 8 years
>>> > > > ago…
>>> > > I remember David from the Bob Dylan newsgroup, always something
>>> interesting
>>> > > to post.
>>> > >
>>> > > 🙂
>>> > yes, I remember his posts being very interesting too...
>>> It could be that that was another David Dalton, possibly the
>>> one who used to write for Rolling Stone and who wrote
>>> several musical biographies, though I have occasionally
>>> posted there, e.g. to say that Bob Dylan is compatible
>>> with Alice Munro. :-)
>>> --
>>> https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic
>>> page)
>>> "And the cart is on a wheel; And the wheel is on a hill;
>>> And the hill is shifting sand; And inside these laws we stand” (Ferron)
>> love Alice Munro's stories... some of them are quite chilling and
>> disturbing, but they are exceedingly well written and engaging, Imo
>
> It's too bad you never met Stuart Leichter, who used to post here. He
> was a retired academic who thought the world of Munro - and that was
> before she won the Nobel Prize.

Yes, Stuart Leichter is one of my favorite poets as well as one of the
most interesting regulars that the poetry newsgroups ever had.

I hope he's doing well wherever he is.