The Cadae, or: Creativity verses form

Sangeetha & David’s new poetry project

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

Once they’d completed their first oeuvre, they decided to continue their journey together; and Sangeetha came up with a fun idea. Beginning in January ’22, they took turns selecting poetic forms beginning with the letters of the alphabet (A through Z) and wrote poems to one another using those forms.

Upon completing that second project, Sangeetha suggested that they go through the alphabet once more, this time with an addition twist… In their new series, for every letter of the alphabet (A through Z), the two would select not only a poetic form but also – a keyword for each poem.

For ‘C’, David selected the ‘Cadae’ form and the keyword ‘Crisis’.

---

C: Cadae

David’s Cadae

Skeptical
or
apathetic

or

lacking perspective,
as a youth, I was unconcerned by
crises
both far and near to home

Now I'm terrified

Everything
seems to be getting
worse; global pandemic; wanton war;
unabashed corruption at the top...
Could I please have childhood back?

Sangeetha’s Cadae

Planet Earth
at
precarious

point!

Plunderers pocket
precious moments of tomorrow's child
The air 
is frail, the waters weak

Pandemonium

in jungles
as species die out 
Oceans roar in pain, glaciers melt
Depleted, defeated, Earth cries out
Life needs to be saved! Please Help!

---

Cadae?

• Strophic: 5 strophes, each containing the number of lines in sync with the first 5 digits of Pi. S1=3 line, S2=1 line, S3=4 lines, S4=1 line, S5=5 lines. 14 lines altogether;
• Syllabic: 3-1-4-1-5-9-2-6-5-3-5-8-9-7 syllables per line;
• Unrhymed;
• Variable: For a Cadae on steroids, the poet could take this a step further and in addition to the strophe, line and syllable count, the number of letters in the words of the poem could also follow the sequential numbers of Pi.

---

---

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!