Anthony Etherin

Poetry and music born from rules and rebellion

Host of the Fate of the Arts podcast

KNIT INK (AND OTHER POEMS):

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

KNIT INK, my exploration of the possibilities and limits of formal poetry and literary constraint, is available now from @DeepVellum! Get yours here: https://t.co/X8oG5BpHVP

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

WORD FACT

We flip-flop, zigzag, tick-tock, and play ping-pong.

We don’t flop-flip, zagzig, tock-tick, and play pong-ping.

This is because of “ablaut reduplication”.

[1/4]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

@CptnTimberTim I can't think of any!

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

WORD FACT

We flip-flop, zigzag, tick-tock, and play ping-pong.

We don’t flop-flip, zagzig, tock-tick, and play pong-ping.

This is because of “ablaut reduplication”.

[1/4]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

That progression from small, light vowels to big, heavy vowels sounds more natural to English speakers.

Other examples include: chit-chat, dilly-dally, King Kong, hip-hop, knick-knack, mish-mash, riff-raff, sing-song, splish-splash, tip-top, wishy-washy, and tic-tac-toe

[4/4]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

It possibly comes down to how humans perceive vowel sounds. High front vowels (like the “i” in zig, ping, tick) feel “smaller” or “lighter”. Lower/back vowels (like “a” and “o” in zag, pong, tock) feel “bigger” or “heavier”.

[3/4]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

FOOTBALL (Palindrome)

See referees idle, if dim.

A deep’s too far….
A ball! A cross!

I’m onside.
Sure.

Peek a busied art:
It's open on one post.

I trade: I sub a keeper.

Used is no miss or call.

A bar!
A footspeed!
A midfield!

I see referees.

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

@marian_v_o Thanks!

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

FOOTBALL (Palindrome)

See referees idle, if dim.

A deep’s too far….
A ball! A cross!

I’m onside.
Sure.

Peek a busied art:
It's open on one post.

I trade: I sub a keeper.

Used is no miss or call.

A bar!
A footspeed!
A midfield!

I see referees.

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

A reminder to...

Follow me on Substack and Bluesky, where I post poetry and other word stuff daily.

Sign up to my almost-weekly newsletter.

And buy my books, of course :)

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

A reminder to...

Follow me on Substack and Bluesky, where I post poetry and other word stuff daily.

Sign up to my almost-weekly newsletter.

And buy my books, of course :)

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

SOLEMN (Palindrome)

I sat, solemn.
I saw time open one poem.
It was in me, lost as I.

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

@grace_laker @seanonolennon Warm raw
Pit tip
Fool aloof (maybe?)

Interestingly, there are more two-word palindromes where the concepts are positively related:

Reknit tinker
Drawn onward
Moody doom
Avid diva
Dump mud
Rotary gyrator
Rotative levitator
etc.

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

May a root, atop a moor,
groom a potato or a yam?

#palindrome

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

This “twoness” of uncertainty is reflected in the Old English term for doubt, “tweo”, which shares a Proto-Germanic root with the word “two”.

[2/2]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

@khirinknight Yes! Via Latin "tempestas", the occasion (time/tempus) of a storm.

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

WORD FACT

“Quintessence” literally means “fifth essence”.

The idea goes back to ancient Greek philosophy and Aristotle, who proposed that in addition to the four classical elements (earth, air, fire, and water), there must be a fifth (aether) making up the heavens.

[1/2]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

DISTANT MUSIC (Palindrome)

Emote to me. Refill a note.
By eking, I sedate my awe.

Now all I give, lines dash, promote,
to visit inward — rose, yet raw.

Art eyes, or drawn it is. I vote
to morph sad, senile vigil. Law,

one way, met a design I key.
Be tonal, life remote to me!

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

This fifth element was later called “quinta essentia” in Medieval Latin, and became central to alchemy.

In alchemy, quintessence came to mean the most refined extract of a substance. From there, the term broadened to simply mean the purest essence or example of something.

[2/2]

[Anthony Etherin @Anthony_Etherin]

WORD FACT

“Quintessence” literally means “fifth essence”.

The idea goes back to ancient Greek philosophy and Aristotle, who proposed that in addition to the four classical elements (earth, air, fire, and water), there must be a fifth (aether) making up the heavens.

[1/2]