Back in the late 1990’s there were very few internet sites that were devoted to online writers and their crafts. What a different world it’s become in such a short new-millennium decade, hasn’t it? Multitudes of writers’ sites are now available, but few can compare to Netpoets and the support that its members find there. As a site administrator, Kit McCallum is an integral part of that supportive team,

In the earlier internet days, prose and poetry writers were much more tentative about posting online than they are today. I know that it took me awhile to muster up the courage to post my first poem. I recall a day in 1999 when I received an inquiring email from a lady named “Kit.” It seemed that she had been a year-long resident poet at Netpoets, having first submitted the poem “The Road Less Traveled” in 1998. She never submitted her poem for hard copy publication, but instead published it on the internet for the first time at NetPoets’ – Passions in Poetry in March of 1999. She needed just a little nudge to join the fray of the site’s interactive forums.

For a few months, Kit had been enjoying the poetry posted on the forums, but she had been hesitant to participate herself. Gratefully, it took very little encouragement to convince her. I do believe she just needed a friendly invitation. On May 1st of 2000, Catherine “Kit” McCallum posted her first poem in the Netpoets’ pipTalk Forums. Those of us who welcomed her aboard were forever enthralled with her words.

Kit grew up in the beautiful province of Ontario Canada. It seems that when she was barely old enough to write her thoughts into full sentences, her parents found her consistently jotting notes on little scraps of paper. Christmas was very easy for them that year. They gave her the best gift ever – a “Nothing Book.” Every good writer knows it well – the journal of empty pages that soon becomes a composite of our innermost thoughts and dreams. Kit tells me that she still keeps her entire lifelong collection of “Nothing Books.” I do find a touch of irony in the fact that she entitles her journals “How I’ve Kept my Sanity,” considering that her father is a psychiatrist. Though he DID give her the first book, after all.

Kit has been writing poetry for over thirty years now, and I have to say that it shows. Her words, her meter, and her rhyme are impeccable. She writes primarily about her “Nothings” – those inner feelings that become universally recognizable to her enthusiastic readers. The key to Kit’s appeal is that her writing maintains generic themes, yet simultaneously manifests her personal feelings.

Her poetry tells a story, usually in the form of a ballad, which will enrapture you from the very first line. Over the years, she’s written several hundred poems, some of which can be found on her personal website, http://kit.netpoets.net , while others are posted in the forums at pipTalk. She has been published in various poetry anthologies, and her work has been used in multi-level marketing campaigns with the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency as well.

Today Kit is a successful entrepreneur, owning and operating her own business in the oil/gas industry sector, while continuing to express herself poetically. She’ll always write. It’s who she is. Being the self-confessed poetic structuralist that I am, I have to say that my all time favorite of her works is a perfectly penned poem about poetic structure – “Playing With My Feet!”

Playing With My Feet

I tried to help a friend to understand the other day,
The many forms of poetry, with which I like to play;
I have my favorites, true enough … the one I’m writing in …
Is often how I choose to play, and so I shall begin.

Yes, I myself, am partial to – da DUM da DUM da DUM,
I like the soft, then hard of the Iambic’s gentle drum;
I often stick to seven feet (that’s fourteen taps a line),
Heptameter, they call it, and I think it’s rather fine.

It seems to lead a story with it’s gentle, rhythmic hold,
Enough da DUM’s to tell the tale, and let it all unfold;
A ballad tends to lend itself quite well to this, you’ll find,
Iambic, plus Heptameter … it is my favorite kind.

Iambic has two syllables, the stress upon the last,
It goes da DUM da DUM da DUM – from there, the dye is cast;
Trochaic has two syllables, but flips it’s beat around;
Its DUM da DUM da, sets a very different tone and sound.

Another form’s Dactylic, with three syllables in kind,
The stress is on the first of three … it’s trying on the mind;
Now Anapestic, it has three, with stress upon the third,
A little harder, some might say … at least that’s what I’ve heard.

Together with the pattern that you choose to stress above,
Comes tapping of the feet per line … it’s meter that I love;
Each grouping of your pattern, sets a rhythm to your feet,
Just tap it out through every line … consistently repeat.

The numbers in your meter have some very silly names,
But if each line repeats itself, you won’t go down in flames;
There’s Monometer (one foot line), and Dimeter (that’s two),
Try Trimeter (a three foot line), there’s many you can do.

Tetrameter (a four foot line) is one I like to use,
Pentameter is popular (a five foot line) to choose;
Hexameter (a six foot line) is more obscure to me,
Heptameter’s my favorite though (with seven feet you see).

Of course, there’s still Octometer (with eight feet in a line),
A little longer, but it’s still a meter that is fine;
That’s just the basics for a start, the key is in “repeat”
Just choose a pattern, count it out, and tap it with your feet.

*~*

Still keeping with Iambic’s trait,
I’ve changed again … another gait;
You’ll notice my da DUM’s are here,
Though now I have less feet, I fear.

Tetrameter, I think is nice,
Four feet (eight beats) my other vice,
When paired with the Iambic hum,
A gentler side of me, will come.

I find my thoughts are more concise,
Less words to ramble, yet entice,
Oh yes, I love this form for sure …
Iambic, plus Tetrameter.

~*~

Da da DUM, I can try, da da DUM,
Change the stress and hope words will still come,
Anapestic is something I find,
That is hard for this feeble, old mind.

Yet I try, and I try, just the same,
For these formats are just a nice game,
Using Trimeter helps, though I’ve found,
Only three feet to tap on the ground.

*~*

Wait! Let’s try another sample,
Change the stress, the meter’s ample …
With Trochaic, you can change it,
Pair Tetrameter to pace it.

Oh! The joy, to change your cadence,
Let me give you this, for instance.
Four feet in these lines, I’m counting,
Can you see the fun is mounting?

~*~

Well IF you’ve followed all above, you’ll think I’ve lost my mind,
You’ll see that I have switched again, back to my favorite kind;
Iambic’s how I like to go … Heptameter’s for me,
It’s simply how I like to write … it sets my spirit free.

If you da DUM, or DUM da too, or even da da DUM,
Just keep your meter repetitious … count your feet, each one;
Exaggerate your words aloud to see if they will flow,
(Just do it in a room alone so others will not know!)

I hope you had some fun with these … I did, I will confess,
It’s great to try a different meter and a different stress …
The key is in the repetition, hold to it throughout,
Or you will lose your readers (like I do sometimes, no doubt!)

/Kit McCallum