Creative endeavors, distilling /
In formats intriguing and trilling, /
With adding, subtracting. /
Verse formats: compacting /
As waves’ interference, fulfilling.
This last Summer 2026 post involves yet one more relatively eclectic poem, as July winds down to a close this week. In terms of the post title, while many of the poems I’ve used here borrow metaphors from chemistry, this verse uses a scientific metaphor that builds on the idea of combinations, specifically.
“Creative endeavors, distilling /
In formats intriguing and trilling…”
Via this website space and associated creative writing efforts, I’ve been glad to have chances to learn more deliberately about poetic forms. The limerick, the sonnet, and the double dactyl have all been interesting to practice with, from early on, given their clear rules.
As I’ve read and practiced more, I’ve learned more about many additional “formats intriguing and trilling.” The latter adjective is probably a stretch as a descriptor of poetry itself, but it does suggest music and verse… and it does fit the rhyme scheme!
“With adding, subtracting…”
Two forms I’ve learned about relatively recently are the cento and the erasure poem. These have been particularly interesting to view in tandem, as poetic takes on (respectively) addition and subtraction.
The cento is a poem in which a poet borrows each line from a different poem. It has been interesting to consider in terms of the themes of combinatorial creativity and juxtaposition that have been intentional subject matter in other summers. In particular, I am strongly reminded of Cormac McCarthy’s point that “books are made up of other books”: the cento form takes this literally, on a smaller scale.
In contrast, the erasure poem is one in which a poet begins with an established text and cuts it down to yield their own work. The spacing of the overall original text is generally preserved, which can lead to some striking effects. (I remember visiting a superb Poets for Science exhibition with an interactive display in which a viewer could begin with one of several scientific texts, then choose words to cut out, one at a time; this link seems to include a comparable exercise.)
It seems reasonable to consider each of these forms a combination, even though the paths towards these combinations take very different forms.
“Verse formats: compacting /
As waves’ interference, fulfilling.”
When I consider two “opposite” approaches, I am inevitably reminded of the concept of constructive and destructive interference, from physics and chemistry. When two waves add together, the combination can be constructive (occurring in an additive manner) or destructive (occurring in a subtractive manner).
Further details on the scientific vocabulary are likely not needed here but can certainly be read elsewhere. My main thought here was that, as with the poetic analogues, each combination yields a distinct effect.
The overall “compacting” verse effects are different, compared to one another (“[a]s waves’ interference, fulfilling”).
***
With that, I’ll close this unusual Summer 2026 sequence, which has been a novel type of combination to consider on its own! I’ll let further reflections on that percolate in the background, though, as my near-future routines shift back to class prep and attendant meetings. When I begin the academic year in late August, I will revisit the April 2026 NaPoWriMo poems, maintaining focus during a busy semester.
Chemphasis 