h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Piku - A11251298
Author: icecoldalex: SExpert @ A4108330 where Science is EXplained in a Friendly Fashion - U1074321


I consider this a work of genius. It's not immediately obvious why it is, but it is...

SoRB

Don't know about genius - not qualified to say, but I think it's rather beautiful - got a kind of quiet strength about it and the binary thing is clever. Love the me/you thing. That's neat.

It did take a few reads to find one that worked but it paid for the effort. The unpunctuation and one word lines that I often find ish were justified.

The bits I'm still trying to work out are the emphasis on 'remains', and the title. What's Piku? The meanings I googled don't fit.

The bit I'm least sure of is the very last line/word.

Thanks for this, it was an enjoyable read, re-read and re-read.
Waz

And re-read! Just got 'remains' . Skim 'over' and, .

That just leaves 'infinite'.

I took the title to be Pi-ku to rhyme with (and suggest) haiku, where Pi=3.141529...

But I haven't been able to interpret it yet.

Intriguing.

It's the syllable count

That *is* genius

(And that also explains why there's a full stop after 'You' - which has been bothering me all day).

(Sorry - after 'You circle')

And I forgot to say that I enjoyed this as poetry long before seeing that 'device' - very nice indeed

Ha! The syllable count in the first six lines is 3,1,4,1,5,9... it's too close to midnight to get the calculator out for the rest.

oh yes, the full stop after circle . But it works poetrywise too.

Like you I'm glad I read it first without seeing the counting.

Really should have got that.
I'd even seen something of the pattern in the line-lengths, and still the penny didn't drop.

"How I wish I could calculate pi. Eureka cried the great inventor..." is the corresponding part of the (best-known?) poem with the digits as the word letter count.

So the last line here could have been eight syllables long, still intimating a continuation to infinity.

Perhaps it could "end" as :
and run towards infinity

Perhaps that's a bit churlish, though. You're right about the poetry of it. Pretty skilful to produce something as harmonious that still generates the pattern.

We run towards infinity.

(if you're going to be churlish, do it properly...)

Thanks Pinniped. I thought that the last line should be 3 syllables but I've checked and it should be 8.

I shall have a think.

Alex.

Do you guys get this bit?

One revolution
over our separation remains
constant



Alex

OK I've put a different last line.

What do you think?

Alex

LLLwaz

I'm interested what you think 'remains' means?

Alex.

One thing I love about this form is that while on one level (syllable count) it's extremely restrictive, on another level (length) it can literally be as long as you like. Whereas a haiku must be three lines, a limerick five, a sonnet fourteen, by definition a pi-ku is ALWAYS stopped prematurely and could in principle continue forever...

SoRB

But also, since it has to end (the hand that types being mortal), it then has to come back to the beginning, so describing a circle: the longer it goes on, the more precise it becomes, but as an expression of wholeness, as a whole number, it's three and has to return there.

(Which is why I'm not so sure about that last line now: I liked the suggestion in the first version that the last line linked up to the first, which isn't as easy to see now - should it start with a capital 'y'?)

One revolution
over our separation remains
constant

>>Do you guys get this bit?<<

Volunteer idiot time? I'm getting four different things from that bit, depending on whether I imagine an invisible comma after 'over' and depending on the two principal meanings of 'revolution'.

<>

Some interesting ideas here about it linking to the first line. I'm more interested though in it being Pi and therefore continuing with the decimal places theme. I wanted something about infinity though because Pi goes to an infinite number of decimal places.

I initially wanted 'Ad infinitum' but when I thought it was 3 syllables this wouldn't fit and now it's 8, I can inlcude it. Not sure about 'rotating'. It's all getting a bit dizzy.

The poem is supposed to be romantic, about 2 people and linked to Pi and circles etc.

A hint and the 'One revolution over our separation...' - what is the definition of Pi?

Any suggestions for alternatives to rotating?


Alex.

Spinning on?
Suggests rotating and carrying on throwing out new numbers.
Recurring? Doesn't have the circles unless you change the rest.

Remains - I'll get back to you. Not something I can word at work with auditors hovering and essentialrighthandman bellowing at the printer next door.

Pi - I love these impossible numbers that measure something as real as the coffee table.

Waz