The Metanome, 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 ‘M’, David created the ‘Metanome’ form.

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M: Metanome

David’s Metanome

Every day,
I put time aside for poetry.
I have to,
Lest the hours escape me entirely.
It's as though
My inner metronome runs on verse.
The rhythm
Of the day fades to a slurred murmur;
Leaves me to
Stare up at the wall clock sluggishly 
Until that
Moment when my fingers touch the keys
To compose
A portrayal of my present thoughts
And new words
Push away that heavy morning fog.

Sangeetha’s Metanome

Moments
Words yearn to paint
Linger 
For hours on end
Tugging
The sleeve of time
Gently
To hear rhythms
Of life
So that today
This verse
Rewinds the clock
To your
Cherished moments.

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Metanome?

• Line count: The Metanome has an EVEN number of lines;
  • Lines alternates between short (S) lines and long (L) lines;
  • The first line is an ‘S’ line, followed by an ‘L’ line;
• Syllabic:
  • All ‘S’ lines have the same number of syllables;
    • All S lines must have either 2, 3, or 4 syllables;
  • All ‘L’ lines have the same number of syllables;
    • All ‘L’ lines must have a number of syllables, which is a multiple of the ‘S’;
  • Possible syllable counts:
    • If the ‘S’ lines have 2 syllables, the ‘L’ lines can have 4, 6, 8, etc. syllables;
    • If the ‘S’ lines have 3 syllables, the ‘L’ lines can have 6, 9, 12, etc. syllables;
    • If the ‘S’ lines have 4 syllables, the ‘L’ lines can have 8, 12, 16, etc. syllables;
• Thematic: Every pair of lines (‘S’ line + ‘L’ line) must include at least one time-related word.

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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!