Pi poetry is poetry written so that every word's length is the same as the digits of pi. So if pi starts out 3.14, then the first word is 3 letters long, the next word is 1 letter long, the next word is 4 letters long, and so on.

Here is a simple example:

"Hey! I know I wrote beautiful pi poetry today!"

(That covers the digits 3.14159265)

 

In 2003, I wrote this pi poem about my daughter learning to walk. It uses the first 39 digits of pi.

Wow! A step...

A brief teetering on ankles shaky and young.

Unsteady yesterday ~ Stronger tomorrows.

Odd in new sneakers, she's clumsy (of course).

Each day she improves.

She is smiling gleefully, proud to vanquish crawling with a

FOOTSTOMP
SUCCESS!

What kind of pi poetry can you write?

Here are the first 20 digits for you.
3.1415926535897932384

Remember, the real challenge is to have your pi poem actually MAKE SENSE. I like to write pi poetry with a thesaurus on hand. I've also fallen in love with the Crossword Puzzle Dictionaries. They make it much easier to find those 8 or 9 letter words...

For more pi, try these sites. Or just do an internet search for "pi" or "pi poetry" and see what you find!

Fun with Pi - Pi Page - All sorts of goodies here. Lots of ideas for celebrating Pi Day on 3/14...

Poe, E.: Near a Raven - A pi poem that re-writes Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" using the first 740 digits of pi.

And of COURSE, you remember that pi is the number of diameters it takes to go around the circle, right??