Does The Brain Create God? Poem by Paul Hartal

“Does the Brain Create God? ” is a mathematically constructed verse: a fib. Its format bears similarity to the haiku and the tanka, because of its strict structure. However, the haiku comprises 17 phonetic sounds (on-s) in three phrases of 5,7 and 5, and the tanka consists of 31 on-s in five units in a pattern of 5-7-5-7-7, whereas this fib consists of 31 syllables in 7 lines, arranged in correspondence to the Fibonacci sequence of 1,1,2,3,5,8,13. The Fibonacci series involve the Golden Ratio, whose value of 1,618 manifests itself in nature, music and art.The mathematical pattern of the fib intertwines form and content in the verse.The fib is a Western form of experimental poetry. Its history dates back to the Middle Ages, has had numerous poetic antecedents and is related to the development of the sonnet. Its contemporary form has been popularized by Gregory K. Pincus.