Spirits In Peace Blog

Archive for the ‘humantarian poetry’ Category

The True Gold Medallists

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Like almost everyone else, I spent much of the past couple of weeks glued to coverage of the Olympic Games. And like everyone else, I found myself entranced by tales of personal triumphs and tragedies, the stories behind the stories. And like every other Canadian, I was delighted to see Crosby’s gold-medal winning goal in overtime in the Canada-U.S. hockey game.

But when I think of the monies involved in such an undertaking, I cannot help but think not only of Vancouver’s homeless population, but of those who live in poverty and misery, hunger and disenfranchisement, around the world. That thought inspired the following poem:

Ever The Medallist: A Reverse Double Etherée

Reflecting on the hoopla surrounding
the Olympics and endless tales of
triumphs and defeats, personal
bests and tragedies, I still
cannot help noting the
numbers living in
squalor, sadly
common in
cities,
and
yet
oddly,
I feel some
national pride
despite advocating
full justice and equal
occasion for advancement
for each and every person. So
I pause to sift through priorities,
humankind ever the gold medallist.

© Carol Knepper

Tags: etherée, humanitarian poems, humanitarian poetry, Olympic Games poetry, reverse double etheree
Posted in etherée, forms of poetry, humanitarian poetry, humantarian poetry, poetry forms | No Comments »

All About Etherées

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

The etherée is a short poem, the single form of which consists of fifty-five syllables. It was invented in the 1980’s by an Arkansas poet, Etherée Taylor Armstrong. In my venture into the world of poetry-writing, I quickly became fascinated with this form.

An etherée may deal with any type of subject matter - it may be a nature poem, love poem, in my case more commonly may be a humanitarian or spiritual poem. Although some consider it to be formal in tone, one may also work with lighter subject matter. Many of my own deal with hope for humanity and concern for the earth.

The etherée does not use rhyme or meter. The single begins with a one-syllable first line, and each line thereafter is increased by one syllable as well as by a couple of letters, thus creating the required triangular shape, for a total of ten lines, the tenth having ten syllables and being the longest line. Punctuation is often not used, but may be employed. The message, of course, must be primary, but a good etherée is also aesthetically pleasing.

Etherées may be written in reverse form, starting with a ten-syllable line. A double assumes a characteristic diamond shape, with two ten-syllable lines, while a reverse double appears in a shape resembling an hour-glass.

I have also written triples and quadruples. As a reader is exposed to the etherée form in general, it becomes easy enough to determine the various configurations.

This is an interesting and challenging form with which to experiment. In future postings, I hope to add tutorial information for poets who are interested in learning to write etherées.

Tags: double etherée, etherée, etherée form, My World Of Etherées, reverse etherée, single etherée, writing etherées
Posted in Poetry, etherée, humanitarian poetry, humantarian poetry, love poems, love poetry, nature poetry, spiritual poems, spiritual poetry | No Comments »

Archive for the ‘humantarian poetry’ Category

The True Gold Medallists

All About Etherées

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