A less metaphysical approach to a "pre-form" —
From Wallace Stevens, "The Man with the Blue Guitar":
IX
And the color, the overcast blue
Of the air, in which the blue guitar
Is a form, described but difficult,
And I am merely a shadow hunched
Above the arrowy, still strings,
The maker of a thing yet to be made . . . .
"Arrowy, still strings" from the diamond theorem
See also "preforming" and the blue guitar
in a post of May 19, 2010.
Update of 7:11 PM ET:
More generally, see posts tagged May 19 Gestalt.