in which I attempt to write poetry about math

[ursula]

Does this make sense if you don't know who Sophie Germain is? Is it interesting if you do? What should I change?

***

Boundary Conditions
Royal Academy of Science, Paris, 1823

This is her moment of triumph:
a seat at the center, a node.
Mademoiselle Germain sits silent,
head upright, chaperoned.
Academy members rise
or dip; the speaker drones.

Steel plate hums to the bow
like silk stretched tight.
Who grasps the edge controls--
she claims-- the waves inside.
She makes her hands unfold.
Her lips taste dry.