“Concluding: the fifth iteration
Through writing and STEM combination;
The routine completing,
In latest repeating
Of chem-concept verse calibration.”
The 30 April 2023 Twitter limerick marked the end of my fifth attempt at the National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) process; this post likewise draws the latest round of poem-translating essays to a close, for the 2023-2024 academic year.
“Concluding: the fifth iteration /
Through writing and STEM combination…”
As noted above, NaPoWriMo 2023 was my own fifth attempt (“fifth iteration”) at this popular poetry-writing routine. These brief essays have now been welcome distractions and exercises through several unusual academic years. The challenge of writing about STEM concepts in a way that is largely jargon-free and thus (ideally!) more fun for general readers is one that remains rewarding, several years into maintaining this website.
“The routine completing, /
In latest repeating /
Of chem-concept verse calibration.”
I am generally in awe of the scientists and doctors who manage significant creative writing projects in the midst of their everyday careers. For instance, Richard Selzer’s described habit of consistently waking at 1 a.m. to write until 3 a.m., while maintaining his “day job” as a physician, has stayed with me for decades, ever since I encountered his eloquent essays in an undergraduate course.
For my own part, while I’ll never be able to aspire to two overnight hours per day, I find that one morning of creative writing once a week can still make a tremendous difference, and the “chem-concept verse calibration” of the previous April is what makes it possible, at this reasonable scale. The 280-word limit for these posts, inspired by Twitter’s former 280-character constraint, works well for my own writing routine during an academic year.
Here at the end of Spring 2024, I have just finished (as of yesterday!) a new set of Twitter poems to revisit in the next academic year; I hope to also take some time during mid-summer to write some longer pieces in this space. For the near future, though, I will pause posts here for a few weeks, noting and celebrating the end of a challenging spring semester.
Chemphasis 