It’s been a pleasure to read the three new chains of poems which have been added in February, from Zoë Brigley and Meredith Andrea,  Rebecca Farmer and Jane Griffiths, and Helen Mort and Charles Johnson.

Each chain has its own way of working. Helen began in Cuba and was taken to Somerset by Charles; when the voice in Helen’s response leaves there, ‘my footprints barely follow me’, and Charles takes them to Carnegie hall: trading places seems to have been one way the two poets have worked. A strong (female) character, among several, has emerged between Rebecca and Jane, for whom dates and times seem to have been more fecund than place. Meredith elides a vowel to take her chain with Zoë from ‘tin soldier’ to ‘tin solder’. Their poems are linked by play on subtle rhymes, sound patterns and metallic details.

Zoë and Meredith have taken on couplets for their first three poems, then, broadly, four-line stanzas for their last two. Other poets have mirrored each other’s forms, too, to give their whole back-and-forth a discernible form. I wonder how much they are conscious and how much they just happen, like slipping into another’s accent in conversation. I wonder what to call these grander forms.

A big thanks to all the poets. I look forward to seeing how Helen and Rebecca finish their chains – whether it’s by continuing with a character, or shifting place, or something else. And naming those new forms.