The Fold, 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 ‘F’, Sangeetha selected the ‘Fold’ form and the keyword ‘Friend’.

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F: Fold

Sangeetha’s Fold

Once upon a poem, I found my friend
blissing in rhyme, in words sublime,
of life and love, he penned
and here we are, writing together once again
Once upon a poem, I found my friend
David, of the Skeptic's Kaddish,
to whom, much gratitude I send
for verses so creative, for partnering poetry,
for encouraging this fun, joyous trend
of mingling minds of humankind;
I am so honoured I found my friend 

David’s Fold

In India ~ Sangeetha, my partner in crime;
We've broken into many breaks ~ words blazing,
Fled much the wiser, with nary even one dime;
Even kidnapped sweet, newly born poetic forms,
Wrapped 'em in new weavings, we, partners in crime,
Then! Got caught in tough, nefarious rhyme schemes,
Barely escaping to free verse, luckily ~ just in time!
We've heeded no authorities and written no one off,
Grown in wit and confidence ~ poets in our prime;
Even now, we're plotting to swipe the alphabet,
But we'll share it freely, we, partners in crime

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Fold?

• No metric or syllabic requirements;
• One rhyme continues throughout the poem, occurring at every odd line. Lines ONE, FIVE and ELEVEN carry the same last phrase. Rhymed: AxaxAxaxaxA.

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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!