The Emmett, 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 ‘E’, David selected the ‘Emmett’ form and the keyword ‘Elves’.

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E: Emmett

David’s Emmett

Elves frolic about my mind,
Frolic with sheer blissful, unbridled mirth
About trees; hilltops; waters; shores, earth.
My deft tenants prance about unconfined
~ Mind bu-thumps with the rhythms they birth

Sangeetha’s Emmett

Elves dance in daisy fields,
Dance to rhythms of the universe
In lilting voices they speak in verse
Daisy heads turn, as Elven laughter peals
Fields of gold wave hands in the air for these revelers

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Emmett?

• The first line of the Emmett is five WORDS long. Each word of the first line becomes the first word of the following lines. So the second word in line one becomes the first word of line two, the third word becomes the first word of line three, etc.
• To make things a little more complex the Emmett has a rhyme scheme of abbab. There are no other restrictions on meter or line length. (Meter optional, line length optional).

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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!