pilish pi door poem 3.14
Posted on by Patricia Furstenberg

Pi Door, a Pilish Poem for Thursday Doors Writing Challenge 2023

Pi Door is my pilish style poem written for the Thursday Doors Writing Challenge 2023, inspired by an Art Deco glass door I spotted in Bucharest.

What is pilish?

Pilish is a style of constrained writing in which the lengths of consecutive words or sentences match the digits of the number π (pi). A poem based on pi is a Piem.

pilish pi door poem 3.14

For my Pi Door poem I used the first 35 digits of pi (in the left column below): 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288. There is a zero included, but I made it work with my pilish poem (in the right column below, each word with its corresponding digit):

Pi Door, a Pilish Poem

3
1
4
1
5
9
2
6
5
3
5
8
9
7
9
3
2
3
8
4
6
2
6
4
3
3
8
3
2
7
9
5
0
2
8
8		See,
a
door,
a
three
jalousies
on
either
frame.
Odd
ratio,
circular
quizzical
bulbous
rose-glass.
Run
in,
one
infinite
math
circle
to
invite,
pace
the
toe,
dramatic
way
to
unknown.
Deserting
evils.

Pi,
mesmeric
entrance.
Bucharest art deco glass door on Pitar Mos Street photo by Patricia Furstenberg
Bucharest art deco glass door on Pitar Mos Street photo by Patricia Furstenberg

A new collection of gorgeous glass doors from the University of Pretoria (photos taken by my daughter) for this week’s Thursday Doors challenge over on Dan Antion’s blog, whose book I savored:

Looking at some of my writing posted on this blog, I seem to enjoy constrained writing since I challenged myself to complete two books of stories in exactly 100 words each.

Dreamland, Banat, Crisana, Maramures, Transylvania, 100-WORD STORIES, Folklore and History Patricia Furstenberg
Dreamland, Banat, Crisana, Maramures, Transylvania, 100-WORD STORIES, Folklore and History by Patricia Furstenberg

17 Replies to “Pi Door, a Pilish Poem for Thursday Doors Writing Challenge 2023”

  3. This is brilliant, Patricia. The door you chose and the second door your daughter found both have a Pi quality to them. The art deco style evokes a feeling that it’s closer to math than most architectural styles (although they all are). I love this. I’ve never heard of a Pilish Poem. This is a delightful introduction. And, you brought both challenges together. Thanks for a perfect start to Thursday Doors, this week and thanks for the shout out for my book.

  4. Thank you, Dan.
    I came about this style of poetry fairly recently, after “Pi Day” (March 14). When I submitted my door for the TDWC I already knew I’ll try my hand at a piem 😉
    Pi has a long history in our home and, cookies and all (for cookies are involved), we look at pi rather fondly.

    Indeed, the University of Pretoria has a beautiful architecture and quaint doors where glass in involved.

  5. I have never heard of a piem or pilish poem, but then again, I am not an expert in poetry. This is cool and interesting and an excellent response to the writing prompt.

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