Numbers count in Fibonacci Poetry - and for The Fib Review's anniversary issue.

I'm celebrating today and it's not all about numbers. They figure strongly in writing the usually short poetry form the Fibonacci poem which is based on the so-called Fibonacci Sequence of numbers.

The latest issue of  the world's leading Fibonacci poetry journal, The Fib Review, is published today in its 25th issue on its 10th anniversary and, yes, my four new Fibs  bring my total 66 of poems published by the Fib Review. All these numbers are worth celebrating I think.

It may all look a bit dusty and arithmetical in the diagram but these numbers form a beautiful sequence that can be found in nature, in science,  in engineering and, yes, in art. The sequence consists of numbers where each  is the sum of the previous two, rising in numerical order and which can be seen in natural shapes  made from this ratio of numbers. It is the beauty of the sequence that has tempted poets to use the sequence as a way of ordering words and lines in poetry.

I have been writing Fibonacci poetry for eight years now by counting the syllables in each line so that the lines correspond to the sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34.  Until now, I've never dared to go any higher in the numerical order but in two of my new poems I have added 55 syllable lines. I'm delighted that they are to be included in the new publication of The Fib Review. Take a look, not just for my new poems but for the fascinating variations on the form achieved by all the other poets, from all over the world,  published there:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/index.html

Leonardo Bonacci, known as Fibonacci (c1170 - c1250)

The Fibonacci Sequence is credited to the Italian mathematician Leonardo Bonacci who was also known as Fibonacci. He introduced this ancient Asian sequence into Western Europe in the 13th Century and it has fascinated mathematicians, scientists, artists, engineers and poets ever since.

The Legend of The Flying Dutchman miniaturised as one of my latest Fibonacci poems.

Today I'm celebrating the publication of two more of my Fibonacci poems,  Castle Walk and The Flying Dutchman,  in that great specialist Fibonacci journal, The Fib Review which is published today and can be found with the following link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/colin_bell1.html

The Flying Dutchman by Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847 - 1917) Smithsonian Museum, Washington DC

One of my two poems uses The Flying Dutchman as its starting point. The Flying Dutchman legend concerned a cursed sea captain condemned to travel the seas for eternity with a crew of ghosts, only allowed to come ashore once every ten years. Sometimes the ship is called The Flying Dutchman, other versions of the legend claim that the name applies to the unfortunate captain, punished for a serious sin, possibly cursing the Crucifixion.  Wagner wrote a well-known opera on the subject but I was trying something much more modest, a very short syllable-count Fibonacci poem, using the Dutchman as a symbol for a turbulent state of mind. 

I've been writing these challenging short-form poems since 2009 and many of them (well, 59 so far) have been published by The Fib Review.  They are based on the Fibonacci Code,  introduced into Europe in the 13th Century by the Italian mathematician/merchant, Leonardo Bonacci, known as Fibonacci who learnt about on his Arabian travels. The Fibonacci Code is a mathematical system were each number in the sequence is the sum of the two previous numbers. It is, believe me, much more flexible as a poetic form than you might imagine until you try it. Why not have a go.

Fibonacci (Leonardo Bonacci) c.1170 - c.1250

I can't leave you without giving you at least a taste of Wagner's music for The Flying Dutchman - here's New York's  Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted with typical bravura by James Levine:

The Beatle, the Cardinal, the Poet and the Prime Minister - my meetings with famous people memorialised in my newly published Fibonacci poems.

A page from the latest issue of The Fib Review

This isn't the first time that I've written about my Fibonacci poetry on these pages but today, I'm particularly thrilled that I have ten new poems published in The Fib Review #19 which came out over the weekend. These poems, written to a syllable count taking self-imposed rules from the medieval Italian arithmetician, Leonardo Fibonacci, the so-called Fibonacci Sequence when a pattern is seen in the relationship between  numbers written to the pattern 1: 1 : 2 : 3 : 5 : 8 :13 : 21 : 34  etc. etc.  At it's simplest the pattern means that each number is the sum of the previous two but you can, of course, reverse the order and do a whole number of variations. I've loved imposing this discipline on my poetry and now, thanks to the continuing support of The Fib Review's editor Mary-Jane Grandinetti, I have been writing 'Fibs' for over five years, forty-five of them published in fifteen consecutive issues of The Fib Review, the World's leading Fibonacci publisher. Heres' the link where you will find my ten poems plus a whole lot more.  http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/index.html

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170 - 1240)

This summer I've been sorting all my Fibonacci poetry into some kind of order, there are now 62 of them, and found that they sat together happily enough and, without being a literal narrative, they tell the story of my many brief encounters with people in my personal life but also in the years when I worked in television. Sorting them out and writing some to fill the gaps, it was a bit like putting together a photograph album so, it was not much of a struggle to call the collection, Brief Encounters. Some of the latest poems have been about meetings with famous people, some admired, some feared and some disliked. It's possibly a form of poetic name-dropping but I hope it adds up to more than that. Not all the encounters were with the famous - some are friends, some strangers and, a few, are imaginary encounters with some of my fears and obsessions.

In Issue 19 of The Fib Review,  four of the ten poems deal with my meetings with the famous - vivid memories all. As all four are now deceased, it seemed like a good idea to memorialise those brief encounters among my latest Fibonacci experiments with minimalism. I hope you'll enjoy them.

Beatle George Harrison (1943 - 2001)

Beat Poet Allen Ginsberg (1926 - 1997)

Cardinal Basil Hume  (1923 - 1999)

 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925 - 2013)

Marcel Proust's rudeness and Lazarus' shock are the themes for my two newly published Fibonacci poems.

Maybe we don't take madeleine cakes enough with weak black tea. I've only had the proper French version of these little cakes once but I can see why the French novelist Marcel Proust (1871–1922) rated them so highly in his massive seven volume novel In Search of Lost Time ( À la recherche du temps perdu). In the first volume of the novel, Swann's Way (Du côté de chez Swann) (1913), the central character, Marcel, experiences what's known as involuntary memory when he tastes one of the cakes dipped into his tea. It opens his memory to scenes of his childhood which begin the epic and apparently sprawling work that is the longest novel in any language. I'm currently on the third volume The Guermantes Way (Le Côté de Guermantes) (1920/1921) - I'm reading it on my Kindle in the English Moncheiff/Hudson/Kilmartin translation but also, from time to time, comparing the text with the original French which is, sadly, above my reading abilities. I hope to finish this self-imposed but highly enjoyable project by the end of the year.

Why are you telling me this? I hear you ask. Well, some time ago, I decided to write a Fibonacci poem about the Proust's madeleine cake incident, imagining what he might have said to me if we were to have met. I'm afraid I imagined our meeting as being uncomfortable and, on his side, rather sneering in the manner occasionally taken when French intellectuals talk to the English.

Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

I liked the idea of writing an extremely short poem in the Fibonacci arithmetical system in answer to the epic-writer Proust's imagined put-down. At the weekend, the poem, Time Past,  along with another of my new Fibs, was published in Musepie Press's 17th issue of the excellent Fibonacci journal, The Fib Review.

If you'd like to read my poem, here's the link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/colin_bell1.html

The Raising of Lazarus, c. 1609 by Caravaggio.  Museo Regionale, Messina

The second Fibonacci poem is Lazarus. It is also about my memory of a vivid moment. Lazarus was the man Jesus brought back from the dead in one of his most dramatic miracles. I had often wondered what it must have actually felt like to find yourself relaunched into life in such a startling way. The thought returned to me once when I was being discharged from hospital after a serious illness. Here's a link to my poem:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/colin_bell2.html

My thanks, once more, are due to Mary-Jane Grandimetti, the editor of The Fib Review, for choosing to publish my work yet again. I have had poems in this publication  thirteen consecutive issues. I'm now putting my mind to writing some more poetry in this style where the syllable or word count has to correspond to Fibonacci's sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. Maybe you should have a go too.

I have three new Fibonacci poems published today, 30th October - my brain haemorrhage anniversary.

The latest issue of The Fib Review, Issue #16,  is posted online today and, sorry to brag, it includes three of my Fibonacci poems continuing my unbroken run in this poetry journal since I submitted my very first Fibonacci poem four years ago in Issue #5.

It's great to celebrate the new issue today, 30th October, which, otherwise, would be just the fifth anniversary of my brain haemorrhage - better known in this house as Haemorrhage Day. Actually, my recovery has been so complete that I hardly even remember it these days. Now though, I do need to say thanks to whatever powers, including the British National Health Service, allowed me to carry on with my life. Thanks!

The long recovering period from that sudden brain injury, a substantial haemorrhage to my left frontal lobe,  allowed me to develop my poetry writing and, sometimes, I  wonder if the haemorrhage actually inspired me to write poetry in the first place. It was during the early days of recovery that I also caught the Fibonacci bug.

If you don't know about Fibonacci poetry then read the explanation in the photo-shot of the new edition of The Fib Review above. It's all about making syllables or words comply into a strict arithmetical code without losing their poetic purpose. I love the form and I feel honoured to have so many of my poems included in what must be the leading publisher of this unique style of poetry.

If you want to read the poems here's the link:

http://www.musepiepress.com/fibreview/index.html

The Fib Review is now downloadable so you can keep them on your computer if you wish and browse all the other poems at your leisure. You can access all of mine in the Writer Archive section.

Those of you who can access the virtual online world, Second Life (it's free and easy to join from anywhere in the world) you can also go to my virtual Fibonacci exhibition, Brief Encounters where forty of my Fibs line the walls along with some of my photography. http://maps.secondlife.com/ - it was in Second Life, while still recovering from brain damage that I first encountered Fibonacci poetry thanks to the editor of The Fib Review who also happens to  run workshops in short form poetry in the virtual world. I loved the idea  from the start but would never have predicted that I would have kept writing them.

How knows, you might even get hooked on the style yourself.

The virtual exhibition continues until January so, if you can, go and take a look. Once you've entered the world head for Book Island, an extraordinary literary community where everything and everyone is dedicated to writing.

Second Life, poetry, the Fib Review, all of these things I celebrate today on my fifth year of borrowed time. Actually my cup overfloweth, as they say, for tomorrow sees the publication of my first novel, Stephen Dearsley's Summer Of Love. I'm a lucky guy.