Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Fibs, all Fibs!

In the Tuesday, April 18 edition of the International Herald Tribune, Motoko Rich has an article supporting the Fibs being propogated by Gregory K. Pincus and his ilk:
Blogs
spread
gossip
and rumor
But how about a
Rare, geeky form of poetry
Well, this is rich -- accusing us bloggers of deception! But what can one expect from mainstream-media folk like Rich.

For more Fibs, go to Rich's "Poetry: A math code for writing odes" -- or go directly to the horse's mouth at GottaBook and check the blog roll under "The Fibs," where Mr. Pincus has the effrontery not only to admit to having previously written Fibs but also to his intention of writing even more! This is a man who's proud of his Fibs.

He even explains how he came to write Fibs, but it's all fabrication:
I wanted [to write] something that required more precision. That led me to a six line, 20 syllable poem with a syllable count by line of 1/1/2/3/5/8 -- the classic Fibonacci sequence. In short, start with 0 and 1, add them together to get your next number, then keep adding the last two numbers together for your next one. It’s a wonderful sequence, and it's one that is repeated in nature (most famously in nautilus shells). Heck, some folks use it in knitting and music,… and, as much as I'd like to say I invented a new form of poetry, these sequences have been part of various poetic structures since before Fibonacci's time. However, "the Fib" is my take on the idea, complete with a wicked cool name, if I say so myself.
Hey, I can Fib, too:
As
much
as I'd
like to say
I invented a
new form of poetry, these se-
quences have been part of various poetic struc-
tures since before Fibonacci's time, and I just added these final thirteen syllables.
Yeah, I cheated by splitting hairpin turns of a phrase amid syllable, but poetic license gives license to ignore some traffic laws.

4 Comments:

At 9:33 AM, Blogger Saur♥Kraut said...

:D

 
At 5:45 PM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Is that "The Mouth of the South"?

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

 
At 2:40 PM, Blogger Greg Pincus said...

I finally got a chance to journey over here to Korea (virtually). I'm always startled to see Fibs show up in the midst of serious talk about serious issues, but that's also what I love about the blogosphere. It's impossible being bored out here!

Thanks for Fibbing. And there were no fabrications... only fibrications.

 
At 3:01 PM, Blogger Horace Jeffery Hodges said...

Hey, Gregory K., thanks for visiting -- and for taking my humor in good humor.

You're a lucky man, one who'll be remembered among poets, literary critics, and students reading the Norton Anthology as the person who fabricated -- I mean fibricated -- the fab fib genre of poetry.

Jeffery Hodges

* * *

 

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