Describe your job as a haiku or limerick - contest

[Greg Bernhardt]

In connection to the publication of @Orodruin's new textbook Mathematical Methods for Physics and Engineering, CRC Press has graciously offered Physics Forums three free copies of it to use as prizes in various competitions of which this will be the second.

Note! The book is aimed towards advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics and the prerequisites for understanding the contents are therefore rather high. If for this or any other reason you feel that you do not want the book, you are still welcome to participate in the contest.

Note (2)! Due to shipping costs, we can offer free shipping within the United States only. If you want to compete for the book from another country, be aware that shipping costs may have to be imposed.

Contest closes Jan 5th. Post with most likes wins.

Haiku rules
-There are only three lines, totaling 17 syllables.
-The first line is 5 syllables.
-The second line is 7 syllables.
-The third line is 5 syllables like the first.
-Punctuation and capitalization are up to the poet, and need not follow rigid rules used in structuring sentences.
-A haiku does not have to rhyme, in fact usually it does not rhyme at all.
-Some haiku can include the repetition of words or sounds

Limerick rules
Limericks are short poems of five lines having rhyme structure AABBA. It is officially described as a form of 'anapestic trimeter'.

The 'anapest' is a foot of poetic verse consisting of three syllables, the third longer (or accentuated to a greater degree) than the first two: da-da-DA. The word 'anapest' shows it's own metric: anaPEST.

Lines 1, 2 and 5 of a limerick should ideally consist of three anapests each, concluding with an identical or similar phoneme to create the rhyme.

Lines 3 and 4 are shorter, constructed of two anapests each and again rhyming with each other with the overall rhyme structure of AABBA.

 

[.Scott]

Microwaves echo
From objects around your car.
My code helps you know.

 

[Orodruin]

This one is obviously just meant for inspiration and is submitted out of the contest but is related to the contest prize:

From the students all hope it took
They all had that quizzical look
It got out of hand
They did not understand
The curriculum so I wrote a book

More inspiration can be found at https://www.physics.harvard.edu/academics/undergrad/limericks.

Also check out the photo contest for the first opportunity to win a book!

 

[phinds]

Contrary people
Go to and fro as they will
Electrons just flow

 

[Charles Link]

I work for pleasure
I get to be my own boss
I am retired

 

[NFuller]

Shortly before becoming learned
Giving to those who also yearn
to construe
what I knew
But still pretending to discern

 

[phinds]

The blue screen of death
Eliminates all my hopes
Linux is better

 

[brainpushups]

I get paid for the subjects I teach
And the students that I try to reach
It can be quite draining
To give them proper training
But my attention is given to each

 

[phinds]

I used to know physics I thought
And many a textbook I bought
With QM I'm a dope,
But PF gives me hope
And my books are no longer for naught

 

[kuruman]

When I taught, in college no less,
My daily routine was a stress.
But since I retired,
No longer I'm wired
So my life is happy, I guess ...

 

[.Scott]

My early work showed my best wits
With code of few cycles and bits.
Then a promise from Moore
Let me tally and store
'Till the size of the code gives me fits.

 

[berkeman]

Smart devices and
people in desperate need
are both my focus

(I already bought a copy of the book -- it was my Christmas present to myself)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Last day to enter and vote in this content for @Orodruin's book!

 

[Paul C]

I sat in silence all day, give me a break
Your job is to cover some kind of mistake
I've broken no law
Offended no one who saw
So pull your strings and get me out of this jail

 

[Wes Tausend]

A late offering just for fun...

• PF Waters

There once were students, lost at bay
Who nets cast null, sand ebbed away.
Let them fish here with boat,
And fill hull with note,
To find well worth stay, the moor cast'n PF Bay.

The last line could be better for sure. Go ahead and redo any of it.

Wes
...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

@kuruman wins the contest! That was fun all, thanks!