“A series new-braving the elements:
Some humorous rhymes and some eloquent
(And many just practical!)
Will yield routine tactical
In sixth trial of month’s experiment.”
The 2 April 2024 Twitter limerick laid out the scope and main goals of the month’s writing project.
“A series new-braving the elements…”
The first line of this limerick had inspired its ensuing rhymes: in drafting the poem, I had been surprised I hadn’t already borrowed the idiom “braving the elements,” in any of my poems and posts previous. As with past years, the 2024 series of posts would examine the overlap of chemistry and poetry, including common subjects such as elements, the periodic table, and scientific biographies.
“Some humorous rhymes and some eloquent /
(And many just practical!)”
Lines 2 and 3 offered a relatively prosaic take (if still in lyric form!) on the poems posted here. While some verses posted on this site achieve more of the light tone truly associated with limericks, and some strive for eloquence, the vast majority have begun from the practical fact that many scientific terms are words that have interesting rhymes.
“Will yield routine tactical /
In sixth trial of month’s experiment.”
I’ve written before about this, but perhaps not this bluntly: part of what is most helpful about the April poems is that I can revisit them weekly here, thus finding a way to fit some creative writing into the challenging chaos of an academic year. Completing NaPoWriMo is very much a “routine tactical.”
Iteration is inherent in many aspects of the scientific method, as experimental approaches require time and repetition to optimize; that theme finds an echo in the last line here. This particular creative writing routine can be considered as an experiment in its own right, with April 2024 as, correspondingly, the sixth trial.
Chemphasis 