Auxiliary Notes

Each of these poems consists of one or more cycles. For example, Dodecagon of Sevens has one cycle, Line Segments of Sixes has six cycles and Points of Zeros has twelve cycles. Each stanza is a cycle, with the exception of Points of Zeros and Line Segments of Sixes for which each line is a cycle. For example, Squares of Nines contains three cycles, each consisting of four words.

For stanzas that are cycles (i.e. all stanzas except those in Points of Zeros and Line Segments of Sixes), the stanza is to be read beginning with the word at the top center of the cycle (i.e. at "twelve o'clock"). Then, the rest of the words of the cycle are to be read in clockwise order. All lines that are cycles (i.e. the lines of Points of Zeros and Line Segments of Sixes) should be read from left to right.

For all of these poems, each cycle should be repeated at least partially before preceding to the subsequent cycle. If the poem is being read aloud, then all such repetitions (complete or partial) should be spoken silently to oneself. That is, only the first pass through each cycle should be read aloud.

For example, consider the poem Triangles of Fours. One reading of this poem might be as follows (here, words with a strike though them are those that are unspoken):

OSaka SouthWest WalkOut OSaka SouthWest WalkOut OSaka
Part-Time TeXas eXPerT Part-Time TeXas eXPerT Part-Time TeXas
QUebec UnYielding YQ QUebec UnYielding
RiVer VeneZuela ZuRich RiVer

Relationship to the OZ Pitch-Naming Convention

The number in the title of each poem indicates the distance between letters in the sequence with which the poem is associated. For example, in Dodecagon of Sevens each letter in the sequence O V Q X S Z U P W R Y T O is the seventh letter after the previous in the sequence O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z O P Q ... . Similarly, in Squares of Nines each letter in the three sequences O X U R O, P Y V S P, and Q Z W T Q is the ninth letter after the previous in the sequence O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z O P Q ...

Because of this structure, these poems may be used as a mnemonic device to learn the musical intervals formed by various pairings of pitches that are named according to the OZ (pronounced "ahz") pitch-naming convention. With this convention, the letters O through Z are used to indicate the twelve pitches of the equal tempered scale. For more information on this, see the articles: The OZ Pitch-Naming Convention and Learning OZ Pitch Names.

Special Words and Abbreviations

In Points of Zeros, eX-eX means a former, former spouse or partner. If former is taken to mean "having been in the past", a former, former spouse would be a person who is now one's spouse, had previously been one's ex, and prior to that had been one's spouse. If former is taken to mean "being the first of two mentioned", then the label ex-ex may be used to distinguish an ex-ex from an ex. In this case, the current ex-ex would have been the first spouse to become an ex, and the current ex would be the second spouse to become an ex.

In Dodecagon of Ones, UV (pronounced "yoo-vee") is the abbreviation for ultraviolet.

In Hexagons of Twos, TV (pronounced "tee-vee") is the abbreviation for television.

In Squares of Threes, XOR (pronounced "eks-or") is the abbreviation for exclusive OR.

In Triangles of Fours, YQ (pronounced "why-kyu") is the abbreviation for "Youth Quotient" which is defined here to be the dimensionless ratio of how old one feels to how old one actually is.

In Line Segments of Sixes, the word RX (pronounced "ahr-eks") means a prescription for medicine or a medical appliance.

In Dodecagon of Sevens, ZaiUs (pronounced "zay-us") is a character in the film "Planet of the Apes". UP and TO are the words up and to (rather than abbreviations).

In Triangles of Eights, SO is the word so (rather than an abbreviation).

In Squares of Nines, SPY is the word spy (rather than an abbreviation).

In Hexagons of Tens, US (pronounced "yoo-ess") is the abbreviation for United States. OY is the word oy (rather than an abbreviation).

In Dodecagon of Elevens, XWay (pronounced "eks-way") is an abbreviation for expressway.