If n is an even number
 *then I'll kiss you goodnight right here,*
 but if the modulus k is the unique solution,
 *I'll take you in my arms for the long night.*

 When the properties are constrained as well as incomplete,
 *I'll be getting off the train at this stop.*
 However, if there is some positive constant,
 *then I'll stay on board for a while longer.*

 When it says that the supremum deviates from the least zero,
 *my heart closes off.*
 But if all moments are infinite and you can hear me,
 *I will open out for you.*

 This sequence satisfies the hypothesis of uniformity,
 and because we know that approximation is possible
 and that inequality is an embedding factor,
 *come, let's try once more.*

Guest poem sent in by Genevieve Aquino

*words between are in italics

i’d like to share this poem with minstrels in the light of poem #1313.

i came across it while looking for poems on math and this one struck me as one that captures the romance of mathematics. math, after all, can be very frustrating, just ask anyone who doesn’t like it. math problems are often just as hopeless as – or even more hopeless than – human relationships.

what i like about this poem is how it weaves two images together. a mathematician (who else would think math beautiful?) struggling over a math problem, and lover agonizing over a relationship. the mathematician and the lover are one person. the beloved is the the math problem. and it’s charming to think that mathematicians may actually have that much passion for mathematics (something i cannot relate to), or that mathematicians in love still think and feel in terms of mathematics.

the mathematical jargon, instead of making the poem incomprehensible, only intensifies how confusing love can be.

and the last line: “come, let’s try once more,” echoes a sentiment common to people stumped by a math problem or a passionate relationship, yet unable to give up on something so “beautiful”.

i don’t know much about Becky Dennison Sakellariou, only that she was born and raised in New England, but has lived and worked in Greece for several years. this poem was published in The Beloit Poetry Journal fall issue last year.

— Genevieve

A brief biography:

Becky Sakellariou has written all her life, and also teaches writing. She also teaches counseling and conflict resolution. Although born in Massachusetts, she has lived in Greece for 35 years where she tends her olive trees, pomegranate trees, wild thyme and oregano, her memories, and her family.

– http://www.branchesquarterly.com/1.4/Contributors1.4.htm