Bridge

Occupy Jerry’s in October

Perhaps I should say something about zebras,
but the eleventh man at our table sent them away already
because when twelve angry men sit, no one
leaves until all 24 lambs are licked clean. When
the food comes, this might get lost or food-stained.
The way the tablecloth slides off the sink
is similar to the salt falling on your lap.
And is like money and cash and
chatting. Let’s talk money
to say light-incongruous
unlimited, a marvel of green
I’ve seen it; believe me: it’s green.
the mechanic wiped his hands, she noted his ring
the horse was there, the lights were on
but honestly, darling, what
did you intend to convey by not doing anything?
Oprah.
He said, “Sorry, the Oprah was really last-minute.”
But everyone is a tree, so thank you for your keys.
Florida you rigged the circus trail
You ran ragged on my condo beach
Sundays, splashing through blue oases and
Rolling down the mountains in mathematical glee. 

collaborative poem by:

Dénes Krusovszky
Paul Legault
Ann Lauterbach
Andrew Dieck
Dan Poston
Ben Richmond
Christine Kanownik
Alina Gregorian
Stephen Motika
Patrick Gaughan

Catenary

“You hesitate between the catenary and portion of a circle. I have lately received from Italy a treatise on the equilibrium of arches, by the Abbé Mascheroni. It appears to be a very scientifical work. I have not yet had time to engage in it; but I find that the conclusions of his demonstrations are, that every part of the catenary is in perfect equilibrium. It is a great point, then, in a new experiment, to adopt the sole arch, where the pressure will be equally borne by every point of it. If any one point is pushed with accumulated pressure, it will introduce a danger, foreign to the essential part of the plan. The difficulty you suggest is, that the rails being all in catenaries, the tubes must be of different lengths, as these approach nearer or recede farther from each other, and therefore you recur to the portions of concentric circles, which are equidistant in all their parts. But I would rather propose that you make your middle rail an exact catenary, and the interior and exterior rails parallels to that. It is true, they will not be exact catenaries, but they will depart very little from it; much less than portions of circles will.”

Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine on the construction of an arch for a bridge