Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Fibonacci Poems



This is a stop on the Savvy Verse & Wit National Poetry Month Blog Tour

Have you heard of Fibonacci poems? In 2006, Gregory K popularized Fibonacci poems a.k.a. "Fibs": six-line poems which use the Fibonacci sequence to dictate the number of syllables in each line (1-1-2-3-5-8).

The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical pattern in which the first two numbers are zero and one. To figure out the next number in the sequence, you always add the two previous numbers. So it goes like this:

         0
         1
0+1= 1
1+1= 2
1+2= 3
2+3= 5
3+5= 8
5+8= 13
13+8= 21
and it just keeps going.

You don't have to stop at 6 lines -- you can have a 7th line with 13 syllables, an 8th line with 21 syllables, etc., or you can make your Fib longer by going back down (i.e. 1-1-2-3-5-8-5-3-2-1-1).

Greg has a book called The 14 Fibs of Gregory K coming out in October!

Laura Shovan has posted great stuff about Fib lesson plans on Author Amok. I like writing Fibs because they are so contained, and you can cover serious or humorous topics in your little space. Here are some of mine:

Fibonacci poems
by Tabatha Yeatts

Hearts
Are
Warm eggs,
And writers,
Chefs – crack hearts in the
bowl of the page, stories splash out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Graduation
"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire."

Years
Spent,
Pen to
Paper, hands
To keyboard. Fire lit –
Ready to light fires of her own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moving

How
many
boxes
can I fill
and still have just as
much to pack: one of life's mysteries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary Shelley Writes Frankenstein

A
Dare
To scare
Your dear friends –
Shadows fall outside,
But you must mine the ones within.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Insoluble

Grains –
Hard,
Bitter –
Can sink down
To the bottom of
Your heart’s glass, never to dissolve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Fibbery from Gregory K
Fibonacci poems multiply on the web
The Fib Review, an online journal

I would love to hear *your* Fibs!

13 comments:

Serena said...

These sound like so much fun to create! Thanks for being on the tour!

Estrella Azul said...

How interesting. I haven't heard of Fibonacci poems before, but what a great bunch from you to read :)

Stefanie said...

I've never heard Fibonacci poems before. What fun they are!

Melwyk said...

I've never heard of this form, either, but they are very appealing. I love the way the title and verse interact in your "Mary Shelley Writes Frankenstein".

Greg Pincus said...

Love
Me
Some Fibs!
Poetry
Brings a happy smile
When mixed with math thus causing me to leave a blog comment of far too many syllables but, let's face it, was never actually going to be a poem anyway!

I love reading Fibs... seeing how folks work with the constraints and how the focus on word choice (heck, syllable choice!) creates such interesting, tight verse. Thanks for sharing!

Pop said...

These are wonderful little poems, Tabatha.

And isn't it amazing how having strict rules can actually spur the imagination. (These fibs are like sonnets, blank verse, haiku, etc., pushing you to find just the write word.)

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

These are fabulous, Tabatha - especially the one from the Yeats quote and the heart. I am always intimidated by form poetry - and you are always so adventurous...your creativity knows no bounds!

Jeanne said...

This is fun!
I call my initial effort
Easter in the North
Eat
the
yellow
center and
white is all that's left
until snow melts around the stalks

Bryan G. said...

If it weren't Sunday afternoon and I weren't already feeling "nappy," then I'd try my hand at this, but alas, it is and I am. :( However, I can see the appeal of writing.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Looping back to see what you've been up to, Tabatha. You have really WORKED the form here. I like "Graduation" a lot. And conGRADulations to Ariana--I saw she won some big Reflections honors!

Tea said...

Read the poems. Had fun. Never heard the word Fibonacci in my whole life. I'm going to try it. Might take me a few days.:)

Tea said...

1 storm
1 crash
2 outside
3 my window
5 by the Willow tree
8 and make me think of those I love.

Tea said...

I really like the Easter one. This is really fun.