My Etheree Spree

Good Friends:

As those reading this blog can tell I've been having an Etheree Spree. I've been having a great time with it, a lot of fun. And I've been thinking about this feeling of exuberance.

When working with a new form like the Etheree there is a sense of freedom that older forms don't have. I'm talking about my psychological state. When I write a Sonnet, for example, there is a consciousness, an awareness, about the history of the form and the greatness of former Sonnet writers hovers in the background. It's almost like former Sonnet writers are looking over my shoulder advising and commenting on what I'm writing. At times I enjoy this sense of companionship; in fact most of the time I like it. But there is also the feeling, sometimes, that I can never live up to their standards or write something as profound or insightful as the Sonnet writers of the past. The same feeling appears with writing Haiku or Tanka or any form with a history of significant exemplars of that form.

With a new form such as the Etheree that does not happen. There are no Great Etheree Poets or Etheree Sages, no Institute of Etheree Studies promulgating the standards gleaned from years of dedication and research. No one has a Doctorate in Etheree studies and no one has written a treatise on Etheree Esthetics.

The result is a greater sense of relaxation. In addition a sense of exploration in the sense of entering new territory. I am aware, for example, that when I use end rhyme in an Etheree that this is an open choice; that there are no estblished rhyme schemes for the Etheree the way there are for the Sonnet. I am aware that when I choose a topic for an Etheree that there there is no historical precedent stating that such a topic is acceptable, or not, as happens in Haiku.

With new forms like Etheree, Lanterne, Tetractys, Rictameter, etc., as long as one sticks to the syllabic form, the poet is free to go where the muse leads.

Best wishes,

Jim