The Retrac, or: Form verses creativity

Posted on by ben Alexander

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.

R for Retrac

David’s Retrac

Project
self-respect
to folks you meet.
You'll find most people treat
you in a kind, good-natured way.
So, tell yourself when you awake each day:
“I’m not defined by what others might say;
my own true self’s beyond okay!
Since only my retreat
Can bring defeat...
can’t neglect
Respect!”

Sangeetha’s Retrac

Transcend
Don't you bend
To fit a mould
Test what you have been told
This is your movie. You're the star
Go the whole distance, no matter how far
Discover beyond your skin; Raise the bar
Come alive, all of who you are
Have the heart to be bold
To show the world
You don't bend.
Transcend

Retrac?

  • 12 lines;
  • syllable Count: 2/3/4/6/8/10/10/8/6/4/3/2;
  • rhyme scheme: a/a/b/b/c/c/c/c/b/b/a/a

Sangeetha & David’s ‘Form verses creativity’

  1. The Alouette
  2. The Balance
  3. The Candlelight
  4. The Dizain
  5. The Etheree
  6. The Florette
  7. The Ghazal
  8. The Hexaduad
  9. The Italian octave
  10. The Jue Ju
  11. The Kimo
  12. The Limerick
  13. The Marianne
  14. The Nocturna
  15. The Ottava Rima
  16. The Pathya Vat
  17. The Quintilla
  18. The Retrac
  19. The Sijo
  20. The Tritina
  21. The Ukiah
  22. The Verso-Rhyme
  23. The Waltz Wave
  24. X (wildcard): The Lira
  25. The YaDu
  26. The Zejel

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!

28 thoughts on “The Retrac, or: Form verses creativity”

  7. I love the positivity of both poems, and the format is interesting both stylistically and visually. This is a fun installment of this collaborative series. Nicely done, Sangeetha and David. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s