the two sides of that chiasmus would be in constant tension

the word 'inexorable' is itself inexorable [...] by the rainbow sweep of vowels which, in its cadence, describes an implacable curve--each syllable peels off irrevocably, culminating in the chiasmus of the 'X'

Storytelling and literature can also be viewed as a chiastic structure: the social power of management storytelling intersects with the social powerlessness and marginalization of literature

Houston Baker Jr. came up with a pithy chiastic phrase to describe how black artworks and writings negotiated this tension: “the mastery of form and the deformation of mastery.”

Wallace leaves the guy there, crucified in the shape of an X, a chiasmus, a portrait of profound stuckness

Yes, they seem to have a teeth-grinding fondness for the rhetorical figure of chiasmus (“We can build on the strength of our diversity, and the diversity of our strengths”).

Death, of course, is the ultimate containment; other, less final containments are conversely strategies toward genocide. Perfect chiasmus.

An attitude might be expressed with just a shift in emphasis, a teasing chiasmus: “Raindrop, drop top” (“Bad and Boujee”).