Fractals
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Fractals
A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each . . . a reduced-size copy of the whole.
—Wolfram MathWorld
Fronds of fernsreplicate the whole plant,and oak trees branchinto fractal twigs.
After rain, broccoliflorets sprout.Jack Frost paintsfractals on windows.
Mountain rangesiterate peaks,and seacoasts swirlinto fractal curves.
Scalloped cloudsvaporize,and lightning forksinto fractal strikes.
Blood vesselsdivide fractally,forming streamsand rivers.
Ice storms smashtrees to the ground,snap branches like firecrackers,but spring will birth new fractals. [End Page 132]
Janet Ruth Heller is president of the Michigan College English Association. She has published three poetry books: Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012), and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011). The University of Missouri Press published her scholarly book, Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (1990). Her children's book about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Sylvan Dell, 2006), has won four national awards.
