The Helipad, or: Creativity forms verses

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 continued their journey together; 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 they go through the alphabet once more but in their new series, for every letter of the alphabet (A through Z), they would select not only a poetic form but also – a keyword for each poem.

Eventually, they completed their third series and decided to embark on a fourth towards the end of 2022. This time, taking turns, they would create their own poetic forms for every letter of the alphabet (A through Z), and exchange poems, as they’d done before.

For ‘H’, Sangeetha created the ‘Helipad’ form.

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H: Helipad

Sangeetha’s Helipad

Heaven drops  in,  for Sunday  bruncH
His  eyes  do  not  give away  too mucH
Hard  my  heart  pounds, loud  I  blusH
Hello  he says;  In  return,  gets a gusH
He  was  definitely my very first crusH
Halo  in  place,  he charms  me enougH
Hundred  dreams spin me  into  a  sigH
Head  in  the clouds, I nervously laugH 
How did  this one  drop  down to eartH

David’s Helipad

Her kindness; I knew she was a catcH
Heartfelt  smiles  and  tinkling laugH
Headstrong; she forged  her own patH
Happy  with  little  and  so very tougH
Hugs  and kisses;  I  had such  a crusH
Head over heels;  couldn't  get enougH
Hope,  a  feeling   rising  from  the asH
Hushed voices, sharing a true warmtH
Healed; in her, I found home on EartH

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Helipad?

The idea of the ‘Helipad’ poetic form is to highlight the shape of the marked space for landing ~ the letter ‘H’.

• 9 lines;
• All lines start and end with the letter H, which is capitalized and in bolded;
• All words in Line 5 are in bold;
• All lines should be the same length, inclusive of spaces (poetic licence granted).

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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!