Poetic Forms: Etheree

The poetic form, "etheree," uses syllable count rather than meter and is unrhymed. It is named for its creator, a poet named Etheree Taylor Armstrong.

The basic etheree form has ten lines, the first consisting of exactly one syllable, the second line of two syllables, and so on until the last line's ten syllables. An etheree can also be reversed, starting with ten syllables and ending with one.

A "double etheree" combines the two, so is twenty lines, starting with one syllable, counting up to ten. Line eleven also has ten syllables and each line thereafter reduces by one until line twenty's single syllable.

Example of a Double Etheree:

Once

Once,
I drove
past a house,
haggard, exposed
to the sun and rain,
decaying roof and steps
warding off all passers-by.
I looked past the abandoned shack
to an era of prosperity,
envisioning a house, a family.

Once, this battered relic was freshly built,
occupied and enjoyed, an abode
with children's ruckus clamoring
through its carpeted hallways,
grandparents arriving
for evening supper,
taking turns on
the porch swing,
at home,
once.