ETHEREE

      The etheree is a 10-line form invented by Etheree Armstrong of Missouri. It requires syllable count per line of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10. Meter and rhyme was not required. Any number of sentences may be used. The trick is to create a memorable message within the required format. Of interest, the 1999 contest brochure published by Poets' Round Table of Arkansas spoke of this form as containing imagery and possible undertones of a second meaning. 

       In appearance, the etheree was done initially as a wedge, flush to the left.  In recent years, however, other formats have apparently become acceptable. For example, the poem may appear as a pyramid. Recently I was told it may also be typed flush to the right, although I have never seen one published in that format. 

      The examples below are from "Intriguing Etheree," a small collection by Ted Badger and E. A. Henderson, published by Bear House, Eureka Springs, AR, in 1996.  The poem in this collection were all flush to the left.  I have reshaped the 4th and last example to illustrate the other two formats.
     
     In submitting contest etheree,  especially to NFSPS, I would recommend that the poet stay with the initial format-- that is, flush to the left -- because we cannot know how informed the judge might be regarding recent changes in the acceptability of other formats.  It's your poem, and the decision is always up to you, of course, but that is my recommendation.    

A Toast 

This
brandy
reminds me
of my mother.
I see her again
wanting to celebrate
each day's small victory, and
to soften the edges of loss.
Her celebrations lifted us all
and taught us proper disdain for defeat.

Widower 

The
old man
who has been
a pest for year--
ever since his wife
left him unprepared for
life alone--is now finding 
it difficult to drive, or walk,
and I, who heartily dislike him,
find impatience giving way to pity. 

Angst

Life
often
is enriched
by happenings
we did not expect
and preferred to avoid.
Unsolicited problems
shake and rattle our composure,
disturb our peace and make us forget
that sugar sweetens tea only if stirred.




                      Calumny (a pyramid)

                           I
                     cannot
                  understand
                 why anyone
               would aspire to be
             President of our land.
             We vilify, demonize,
         ridicule, belittle and scorn,
  forgetting they, like us, are human.
Even broken clocks are right twice a day.


         Calumny (flush to the right) 

                                                                I
                                                       cannot
                                                understand
                                               why anyone
                                     would aspire to be
                                President of our land.
                                  We vilify, demonize,
                        ridicule, belittle and scorn,
           forgetting they, like us, are human.
   Even broken clocks are right twice a day.


 The internet shows the "Reverse Etheree" as one stanza of 10 to 1 and a second stanza of 1 to 10, and I believe that definition will be honored in the Mid-South Poetry Festival contest. 

florencebruce@att.net