The Violette, 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 ‘V’, Sangeetha selected the ‘Violette’ form and the keyword ‘Vintage’.

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V: Violette

Sangeetha’s Violette

Old wine is much revered
In gold caskets preserved
Never shaken or stirred
Sublime... you see?

Mint green E-type Jaguar
That treasured vintage car
E for Envy... by far
Won't you agree?

If age is a big plus
Antiques are fabulous
And years make you famous...
What about me?

David’s Violette

Of singular mintage,
Past forty, I'm vintage.
My gut gets poor windage-
With age, I've slowed.

The old songs I enjoy
And dad jokes I employ
My young child much annoy-
Yes... yes, I know.

I don't aim to be cool,
Nor in-crowd to befool;
But no punk in high school
Can. touch. my. flow.

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Violette?

• Stanzaic: written in any number of quatrains;
• Syllabic: 6/6/6/4 syllables per line;
• Rhymed: feminine rhyme used aaab cccb dddb etc.
  • ‘b’ is a linking rhyme from stanza to stanza.

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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!