From Code
Mass
Mass: one wafer, tectonic shift. Matter, embodied.
Here: acceleration measured, field force, liturgy exerting, formulaic.
Conquistador, your shadow sits along
side misery. Dusty particle.
≠
War dogs, rabies, plague: young ones
Home
Terrace cultivation cupping rain like flat rock pit
we dip tips into, splash faces claim anew climb forever into sky, stay there.
Hold rain here, shelflike. Divide time by work.
Rattle contains each bead bearing weight.
≠
Cannons, bullets, sword: young ones
Playa
Falcon dancer tossing stone, shaped stones, juxtaposing
top knot, pillbox hat, in gambling proximities. Hectacres, magnum flounced loop lines.
Chunkey, chunky, tchung-kee, chenco, fast work
made in wagering everything owned.
≠
Missions, christened, crowned: young ones
Author’s Note:
The verse sets in Code employ indigenous mathematics and numerologies with a particular field—or site—as center. In the sets:
Title (removed)
13
20
10
9
__
52 total syllables
with each component bearing a significant number, when added offering another significant number in the total, and another in numbers of lines offered in each sect (4) or section. This, followed by companion line sets (1) of 7 syllables, in listed inequalities, with a 2/2/1:2 syllable count ordering. Other additional factors are at play—first line and companion line primes, for instance—but this gives an idea of my intent.
Editor's Note: Don't miss "Why Poets Sometimes Think in Numbers," Carol Dorf's introduction to math poetry in TW.
Art Information
- “Petals” © Jeff Shelden; used by permission
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke’s authored books include the poetry collections Dog Road Woman and Off-Season City Pipe; a memoir titled Rock Ghost, Willow, Deer; and a verse-play, Blood Run. Hedge Coke has edited eight additional collections, including Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, Effigies, and Effigies II. She came of age cropping tobacco and working fields, waters, and in factories.
