An Etheree for Jeques
Recently a fellow poet (Jeques) asked me about a new style I’d undertaken. My two poems “Scarlet Paint for Lies” and “For You” are written in a relatively new form. I say “relatively” because it was developed in the 1970’s by a Arkansas poet named Etheree Taylor. The style, still unknown to many poets, is named an Etheree after Miss Taylor.
The form itself is simplistic, but like many “simple” styles is anything but simple to write. The most basic form of the Etheree is the 10 line version. The first line has only 1 syllable. The second line has 2, no more- no less. The third line, 3, and so on until you reach the tenth line with it’s 10 syllables. Of course there are a number of varieties that give the form personality. You could craft a reverse Etheree which starts with 10 syllables and ends with 1. The Double Etheree counts from 1 to 10 and continues on from 10 to 1. You can guess what a Reverse Double Etheree is. Obviously you could go wild with this form. What about a Reverse Quadruple Mirrored Etheree?
Though this form is favored by free-versers looking to add a little poetic format to their craft, I enjoy it immensely when used with rhyme. And since it started as an excercie in free-verse there are no limitations on rhyme schemes.
I hope all poets will give this form a try. The bare-essentials quality of the form strips away many unnesecary elements from our writing. And like physical excerisice, you may discover some poetic muscles that’ve been neglected up until now!
jeques said,
November 9, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Kevin,
Oh, an Etheree form. Now I remember where I first read this form. I scanned my Writer’s Digest Magazine I received just 2 weeks ago and there I found in poetry corner of the magazine a discussion about Etheree, I didn’t read it thouroughly when I got my copy of the magazine. Thank you very much for taking time to discuss it in your blog. I’m learning a lot. Here’s an Etheree sample poem from the magazine:
Rough
and smooth
butterfly
on sandpaper
they razz each other
rollicking piano
ride cymbal the black magic
is under my skin, gamboling
downhill like a Tuscan jalopy
dancing on tables, necking on the street.
Soon, I will try my hands on Etheree form. Thanks for introducing me to this interesting freeverse format. I appreciate your gesture of getting out of your way to thoroughly give me and your readers valuable inputs on this.
I wish you well.
~ Jeques