Pilish

It has been suggested that Cadaeic Cadenza be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since July 2024.

Pilish is a style of constrained writing in which the lengths of consecutive words or sentences match the digits of the number π (pi). ^[1][2] The shortest example is any three-letter word, such as "hat", but many longer examples have been constructed, including sentences, poems, and stories.

The following sentence is an example which matches the first fifteen digits of π:

How I need a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!

The following Pilish poem (written by Joseph Shipley) matches the first 31 digits of π:

But a time I spent wandering in bloomy night;

Yon tower, tinkling chimewise, loftily opportune.

Out, up, and together came sudden to Sunday rite,

The one solemnly off to correct plenilune.

A full-length Pilish novel has been published, Not A Wake by Mike Keith^[1][3] which currently holds the record of the longest Pilish text with 10,000 digits represented.^[4]

In order to deal with occurrences of the digit zero, the following rule set was introduced (referred to as Basic Pilish):

In Basic Pilish, each word of n letters represents

(1) The digit n if n < 10

(2) The digit 0 if n = 10

Since long runs of small non-zero digits are difficult to deal with naturally (such as 1121 or 1111211), another rule set called Standard Pilish was introduced:

In Standard Pilish, each word of n letters represents

(1) The digit n if n < 10

(2) The digit 0 if n = 10

(3) Two consecutive digits if n > 10

(for example, an 11-letter word, such as "imagination", represents the digits 1,1)^{[citation needed]}

Cadae is a poetry form similar to the fib, but based on π. The word "cadae" is the alphabetical equivalent of the first five digits of π, 3.1415.^[5]

The form of a cadae is based on pi on two levels. There are five stanzas, with 3, 1, 4, 1, and 5 lines each, respectively for a total of fourteen lines in the poem. Each line of the poem also contains an appropriate number of syllables. The first line has three syllables, the second has one, the third has four, and so on, following the sequence of pi as it extends infinitely.^[6]

Rachel Hommel wrote an untitled "Cadaeic Cadae", which uses the cadaeic form as explained above, and adds a level of complexity to it wherein the number of letters in each word represents a digit of pi.^[7]

For his book, "The Burning Door," Tony Leuzzi wrote a series of 33 untitled poems in cadaeic form.^[8]

• Cadaeic Cadenza
• Constrained writing

2. Walkowicz, Nathan (2021) Stile: “An Infinite Mystery” Kindle Direct Publishing. ISBN 979-8485105631

• Writing in Pilish
• Pilish Checker
• Accidental Pilish