About Poetic Source
Code and poetry intertwined: dual expressions of universal patterns
Poetry is one of humanity's oldest art forms, giving voice to our deepest thoughts and feelings through creative expression. Similarly, programming languages enable us to instruct machines through precise, structured commands. While poems speak to the human heart, programs speak to computers — each in their own unique language.
A "code poem" brings these worlds together: it is both a valid program that machines can run and a carefully crafted poem that humans can contemplate. Each piece maintains technical precision while expressing poetic beauty through its algorithms and structures.
This project reveals the inherent art in computer science, uncovering profound truths hidden within our algorithms. Working with generative AI, I'm exploring how programming languages can intersect seamlessly with poetry, representing a unique blend of computational thinking and creative imagination.
Valid Code
Each poem strives to maintain code validity while expressing deeper meanings through its algorithms and comments.
Poetic Forms
Six Poetic forms — Ghazal, Haiku, Koans, Rubaʿi, Tanka, and Free Verse — each bring their own structure and rhythm to the code.
Context & Meaning
Each piece includes philosophical and technical commentary, examining the programming concepts and poetic elements embedded in the code.
AI Collaboration
The collection features poems created by humans and through human-AI collaboration, demonstrating new possibilities in artistic expression.
Origins
Poetic Source began with an observation: fundamental patterns in computer science mirror the natural world in fascinating ways. Object-oriented concepts parallel biological evolution, garbage collection algorithms reflect Earth's closed metabolic systems, and recursive functions echo the fractals found in ferns and river networks. These parallels suggest that our programming paradigms might not be mere inventions, but discoveries of principles inherent in reality itself.
Just as poets find their verses in reflecting life's moments — a falling leaf, a chance encounter, a remembered dream — these unexpected harmonies between computation and nature suggest an underlying elegance. Poetic Source explores this connection, blending structured verse and code, while AI collaboration enriches the process and helps to discover new ways to transform technical concepts into poetic expression.
Share Your Poetry
Inspired to create your own code poetry? I'd love to see what you create! To contribute a poem, please visit the GitHub repo and follow the guidelines in the README.
Discover the beauty that emerges when we view code through a poetic lens.
Explore the Collection