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John W. Leys

Indie Poet & Writer
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Category Archive: Tetractys

Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing, consists of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also bereversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1

Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

and so on.

“Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.” – Ray Stebbing

Words (tetractys)

Words Only Mean what we Agree they mean. They have no substance but what we give them Vibrations […]

November 10, 2018 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Tetractys for a Pyrrhonic Skeptic

The Only Thing I know For certain is That I don’t know anything for certain. 4/6/18 My ninth […]

April 9, 2018 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Exploration – a Tetractys

To Explore The spaces Within yourself Is an adventure that will never end. 4/4/18 My fifth poem for […]

April 5, 2018 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Tetractys on Heraclitus’ River

The river is never the same river, flowing around you changing as you step. Each moment changing, evolving; […]

April 26, 2017 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Isolation #2 (Tetractys)

I’m alone, by myself, in a crowd of people, anxiety, and suffering. 4/14-4/23/17 This poem started life as […]

April 24, 2017 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Now (a Tetractys)

Now is all that there is: The past is gone and the future will never quite arrive. 4/18/17 […]

April 23, 2017 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Life (a double tetractys)

Life begins in darkness, grows in the light: developing, evolving, flourishing. aging, decaying; systems breaking down. Life always […]

April 17, 2017 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys

Isolation (a tetractys)

Here alone in a room full of people. Walls and chasms between their hearts and mine. 4/14/17 Poem […]

April 16, 2017 Formal Poetry, Poetry, Tetractys
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