Cryptopoetry

[icepixie]

So, last night's Fringe led me to do more research on numbers stations, which led me to the "Mein Fraulein" game/hoax. Someone at Wired speculated that the Craigslist posts directing "Mein Fraulein" to call the telephone numbers provided, which then spewed numbers at the caller, were the product of "some young cryptanalysts...sending love notes and taunting Mossad, the NSA and the phone phreakers at the same time." The idea of people sending encrypted love notes intrigued me, and while I don't know enough about cryptology to write a story about it*, nor do I really desire to learn, I figured I could get a few stanzas out of the general concept, and make it more interesting by encrypting part of the poem.

The result is manifestly not great poetry (although I'm somewhat fond of the second stanza), but I had fun, and perhaps you will too.

19217613481918 221915687

Others may use roses, letters,
telephone calls or birthday cards.
Our love is by numbers:
one time pads and sixty-four-bit blocks,
logarithms and PGP;
sweet secrets, numeric thrills
where others more adventurous than we
found life or death.

Remember that time in New York
when we pretended we were spies in East Berlin?
The café was dark, needing only smoke for ambience,
and there was German Chocolate Cake on the menu.
(What we lacked in authenticity, we made up for in enthusiasm.)
I loved you then as I never had before.

82219 7232937 17961019 320 15 8113, 82219 1615172511156187 26334 320 15 72312,
82219 21263623397 921921823221 2623219 320 152 192321228;
82219719 15619 13619 161915982320926 83 119 822152 637197 36 182315132187,
13619 86978113682213 822152 2619881967 822158 162615619 82219236 2328192823327
83 82219 11362618. 74191525 83 119 232 291161967, 74191525 83 119 232 1731819,
15218 23 11232626 2619151019 1339 82219 251913 83 113 22191568.


I encrypted the title and the last stanza with a simple alphanumeric cipher of the English alphabet (of the A = 1, B = 2...Z = 26 variety), BUT to make things more interesting I did not start with A = 1. Instead, 1 is the first letter of the word that answers the following, admittedly simple and googleable, riddle: What kind of room has no windows or doors?

First to comment with the decrypted translations wins an internet. :)


* Although if I were to do so, the young cryptanalysts in love would totally get sucked into some kind of crazy spy adventure because of their fooling around with personal ads and number codes.

Comments

[foursweatervests]

Oh, no, wait, I did read this one but was too lazy to figure out the code so I said I'd comment later! (I'm really lazy. Like. Really.) But I actually saved this because it's so damn good. I mean, really.

Remember that time in New York
when we pretended we were spies in East Berlin?
The café was dark, needing only smoke for ambience,
and there was German Chocolate Cake on the menu.
(What we lacked in authenticity, we made up for in enthusiasm.)
I loved you then as I never had before.

Makes me want to live this poem.

[icepixie]

Oh, wow. Thank you! (P.S., the translation of the code's over at the LJ version of this entry thanks to a codebreaker on my flist over there.)

Makes me want to live this poem.

Actually, if you go to the International Spy Museum in D.C., you...kind of can. *g* There's a mockup of an East Berlin cafe as part of an exhibit, with 1960s decor and music. It's not a real cafe, but there is definitely ambiance. ;)

[foursweatervests]

Oooh, sweet. I love it when other people do the work for me!

Hah! I should have known. That's fantastic; I'll definitely have to go.

Encrypted Hearts

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I think the fourth word in the fourth line was supposed to be 2619881967?

If so:

The sinuous curve of a two, the backwards loop of a six,
the glorious unending line of an e;
these are more beautiful to me than roses or diamonds,
more trustworthy than lett(e)rs that blare intentions
to the world. Speak to me in numbers, speak to me in code,
and I will leave you the key to my heart.

Re: Encrypted Hearts

[icepixie]

Ding ding ding! Where would you like your internet delivered?

(You're right about the fourth word of the fourth line. /o\ The last word of the second line is "eight.")

Re: Encrypted Hearts

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I would like it to stay right where it is-- on my lap. :)

(Haha. I tend to do decoding by translating all the small words and repeated words first, then the first letters of all the other words, and then the rest. So I guess I forgot to go back and decode the "ight" in "eight"!)

[magsyb.livejournal.com]

I love cryptology. It was part of a past job I had.. so this equals love for me. :D How long did this take you to come up with?

[icepixie]

It was part of a past job I had

Ooooh, awesome.

The poem took me maybe fifteen, twenty minutes to write. The code itself took almost no time to do at all.