Reactions, reflections, equations;
Post marks an auspicious occasion
With sestercentennial
From practice perennial
Achieved in the latest summation.
This is a non-Twitter/Bluesky poem, newly written this month, in honor of the fact that this is my 250th post on this site! Since this is also the spring break week of the semester, it seemed like a good point to pause and celebrate.
Reactions, reflections, equations…
Chemical reactions, reflections on teaching, and mathematical equations have all been centered in these various poems and “translations,” over the past few years.
Post marks an auspicious occasion…
With my typical limit of 280 words per poem translation, 250 posts at that average word count would be 70,000 words, which a Google estimate places at 280 pages: tough to believe. This website has been a welcome addition to my academic routine since late January 2020, so I’ve likewise passed my fifth anniversary of writing here, relatively recently.
With sestercentennial /
From practice perennial…
The overall project technically began in the previous spring, in April 2019, with its overlap of National Poetry Writing Month and the International Year of the Periodic Table. The latter designation had arisen because it was the 150th year since Dmitri Mendeleev’s publication of his precursor to the modern Periodic Table of the Elements (PTE). That occasion was where I learned the term “sesquicentennial” (for 150 years, since Mendeleev’s PTE was developed in 1869); I similarly learned “sestercentennial” this week in thinking through potential vocabulary for this post. (I am not sure the term is as accurately deployed in a numbering scheme for 250, but its metric fit was not to be denied.)
Achieved in the latest summation.
This latest essay marks my 250th post. “Occasional poetry” seemed a good title here, since it technically refers to poems written for a special occasion. I’ve also liked it as a descriptor of my writing routine since beginning my posts several years ago. That routine still involves much standard academic prose– lecture notes, grant proposals, journal articles, countless emails– but also now, occasionally, poetry.
Chemphasis 