← Back to the gallery
Similar Triangles Poem

The Gift of San Shin

2008
Digital
The Gift of San Shin, 2008 — Wisdom = ((Adversity)(The Wind)) / The Cage
The Gift of San Shin, 2008 — digital
The poem Wisdom  =  (Adversity)(The Wind) ⁄ The Cage

The value of wisdom is to the value of adversity as the value of the wind is to the value of the cage.

The same poem, solved four ways

A similar triangles poem is a proportion, a ⁄ b = d ⁄ e, and a proportion can be rearranged without changing what it claims. Each arrangement is a separate poem and all four say the same thing.

  1. Wisdom = (Adversity)(The Wind) ⁄ The Cage
  2. Adversity = (Wisdom)(The Cage) ⁄ The Wind
  3. The Wind = (The Cage)(Wisdom) ⁄ Adversity
  4. The Cage = (The Wind)(Adversity) ⁄ Wisdom
How the form works More of these poems