The Keywyrd, 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 ‘K’, David created the ‘Keywyrd’ form.

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K: Keywyrd

David’s Keywyrd

True deceivers and heathens; every
end throughout history decreed and
arranged; direful truth effected; humanity
huddled desperately at the edge;
eternity's threshold devours all hope

• Keyword: D.E.A.T.H.

Sangeetha’s Keywyrd

Endings rankle faith in goodness;
inevitable gloom forebodes, eschewing reason;
regret inches forward, gathering evidence;
emotions, feelings, glum; reality, inconsolable
I go feeble, remembering endings

• Keyword: G.R.I.E.F.

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Keywyrd?

• Select a keyword with five distinct letters (no double letters);
• The Keywyrd poetic form has five lines;
  • Each line has five words;
  • Each of the five words in every line must begin with a different one of the letters that spell the keyword, but not necessarily in order;
• You cannot use your selected keyword or any form of it in the poem;
  • The content of the poem should relate to your selected keyword without actually mentioning it.

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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!