The Candlelight, or: Form verses creativity

Sangeetha & David’s new poetry project

Once upon a time, two poets who’d never met in person spontaneously began writing verses back and forth to one another over the Internet. Their first poetry project took them some nine months: a 100 verse Hyakuin.

Once they’d completed their oeuvre, the two decided to continue their creative journey together; and Sangeetha came up with a fun new idea, which David loved – to explore different poetic forms together, working through the Alphabet from ‘A’ to ‘Z’.

Every week, for twenty-six weeks beginning in January of the year 2022, they would take turns selecting poetic forms beginning with the letter corresponding to that particular week (1=A, 2=B, etc., etc.) and write poems to one another using that form.

David suggested they call their new project ‘Form verses creativity’, and so it began.

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C for Candlelight

Sangeetha’s Candlelight to David

Orange evening sky
gently dropping by
in infinite grace
a warm embrace
to bless the day
and to say
a few words
to touch
your hearts
our
sweet
friends
as
you
read
this
flicker of a Candlelight

David’s response to Sangeetha

Second candle lit;
two little flames flit,
dancing, cheerful twins ~
Shabbat begins,
our day of rest.
You = our guests;
please come
in for
dinner.
We
are
so
glad
you
could
make
it this evening... How are you?

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Candlelight?

• 17 lines;
• Syllabic –
  • 5-5-5-4-4-3-2-2-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-7 per line;
• Centered on the page;
• Rhymed aabbccdefghijklmn.

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!