Late To The Party, I Still Try To Compose A Nerdigras Anthem

March Madness leaves me cold, to say naught of

St. Patrick's Day (Ugh! Amateurs and beer!).

There's really only one reason to love

This silly month and greet it with good cheer:

'Tis Nerdigras, the season of the geek!

From Christmas's square root (that is, the fifth)

Through Pi Day, March Fourteenth, we all shall seek

To show our love for elegance and pith:

Have fractal fun, unscrew some endless screws,

Chase Zeno's tortoise, don our best Lovelace,

Turn coffee into theorems with Erdös,

Cross Konigsbergen bridges or just face

Those Cantor sets within sets. Raise a glass,

And take a Knight's Tour with me. Now that's class!

In Which I Share My Cure For Earworms

It happens now and then to one and all:
A song plays in our brains in endless loops.
It's rarely one we like but we're in thrall
E'en worse when one we hate makes us its dupes.
Sometimes inflicting them becomes a game
(As Netta Ribken oft accuses me),
In which one tries to implant the most lame
Tune of them all with much unholy glee.
However, I am armed 'gainst these attacks.
The secret arsenal within my brain
Has Schubert's "Trout Quintet" upon its stacks.
Not only does it cancel lesser tunes;
It well evokes an angler's afternoons.