The Ya Hoo, 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 ‘Y’, David selected the ‘Ya Hoo’ form and the keyword ‘Yes’.

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Y: Ya Hoo

David’s Ya Hoo

You have my 'Yes.'
We two press on.
It's less new now-
But fits! Wow, dawn
somehow hits us both; and connections get drawn.

Sangeetha’s Ya Hoo

One word that wins
my fun princess...
she grins running
to me, impressed,
as indeed I indulge, concede, and say Yes! 

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Ya Hoo?

• Stanzaic: 1 to 3 stanzas, each with five lines;
• Syllabic:
  • Each of the first four lines have four syllables;
  • The last line has either 5, 7, 9 or 11 syllables;
• Rhyming: crisscrossing internal staircase rhymes as follows:

a.O.O.b
O.a.b.c
d.b.a.e
O.d.e.c
O.e.d—.c

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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!