Earlier this year those of us in my children’s poets group were experimenting with Fibonacci poems. These short poems have syllable counts in successive lines following the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, where the next number is the sum of the previous two: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, etc. We noticed that because of the increasing numbers of syllables per line, Fibonacci poems have a cascading feel. We looked for topics that cascade. I thought of how friendships begin.
That experience of going from being strangers or acquaintances to being buddies can happen so fast. What a sweet ride.
photo by Karin Fisher-Golton
No Going Back We meet, sit down, politely begin to converse. Soon a common experience sparks thoughts, ideas, sharing—a connection begins. Now, it’s like we never were strangers but two who can’t help seeing each other as friends. © Karin Fisher-Golton, 2014
Thank you, old friends. Thank you, new friends.
Enjoy more poems for Poetry Friday at Liz Steinglass’s blog, including her own wonderful speaking bookmark poem, which she’s raffling off on a bookmark: http://elizabethsteinglass.com/2014/05/welcome/
Fabulous idea to look for cascading topics for fibs. Great poem about friendship :).
Thank you, Jama! It’s always helpful to have a little limitation to inspire creativity.
What a lovely poem, Karin! Great photograph, too. 🙂
Thank you, Michelle. The kids in the photo are my son and my friend’s son (taken a few years ago). They were born at almost the same time. I like to think they were friends before they were even born, but it was great to watch that become reality.
This is an excellent FIB. I enjoyed your insight for selecting topics. Well done.
Thanks, Joy!
Lovely. I think the topic is perfect for the form. They both gain momentum.
Thanks, Liz. I do love thinking about what topics are right for forms, and what forms are right for topics.
This is wonderful – I’ll have to give it a go with my sixth graders. Thanks for sharing today!
I’m so pleased to read that. I’m imagining that will be great fun, with fascinating results.
I’ll have to try a fib poem. It’s the math that’s been holding me back! 😉
Enjoy! I feel like trying another soon myself.
Your poem has a cascading feel without being too contrived. It flows out and makes a new friend. My students have been writing fib poems since meeting Greg Pincus on Skype. They love the form. I have not challenged them, though, to use it to also express theme. That would be a logical next step.
Thank you for your comment.
Fib poems and Fibonacci Poems seem like great projects for kids. I mean to try it myself. How fun that your class got to meet Greg Pincus on Skype. My understanding is that the term he coined “Fib” is for a six-line poem that goes up to an 8-syllable line and that they are a subset of Fibonacci poems, which can be any length as long as the syllable count follows the Fibonacci sequence.
I love thinking of you challenging your students to express a theme with the Fib poems. Thank you for letting me know.
Poetry and the Fibonacci sequence – who would’ve thunk? Very very nice, Karin. Love the notion of a cascading poem. 🙂
Thanks, Myra. I love creative forms, and have been running across a lot of good ones on recent Poetry Fridays.
I love how you made a connection between a form and the topics that suit it well. This is lovely:>)
Thanks so much, Laura! I have my wonderful poetry group because of connections through your nonfiction writing class.