Shoelaces

Susan Gordon Byron

Aged 13, my favourite things
threw themselves from books.

A lem-niss-kit, I met in maths.
The shape is a figure-of-eight,

a pretty bow, or shoelaces.
Only I never heard lem-niss-kit

(that was accurate)
I read lem-ni-scate,

which sounds like a snake
of sorts in shallow waters, 

small and resilient,
not impossible, not infinity.

A lemniscate: a cosmic romance.
The Latin is ‘decorated with ribbons’.

I see scholars mesmerise 
with defining lines of fabric tied; 

remember festivities fallen from pages. 
A 13-year-old presented facts like amulets.

There was an ancient belief, referred to by 
Aristotle, that weasels gave birth through the mouth.

Another idea and upside-down prize
that wriggles back like a day, an animal, a babe.

The Science

John Wallis was a 17th-century mathematician who introduced the symbol for infinity. Some of his work drew ire from none other than Thomas Hobbes. Wallis wrote an entertaining rebuke, dismissing Hobbes' arguments as so weak, 'a butterfly might have broken through them'. This poem draws on the passion I had as a teenager for various mathematical symbols, including, of course, the lemniscate.

The Poet

Susan Gordon Byron (she/her) is a poet in London. A debut collection will be published by Atlanta-based Parlyaree Press in 2026. She does occasionally, accidentally, sound like Hermione Granger. She was longlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize in October 2025.

Next poem: The Big Dipper by Joseph Geskey