Welcome to a brand new poetry form—and a revolution by writing!
You have reached the home of the Longette, developed in 2025 by Wordflower’s editor Catherin J Pascal Dunk—in collaboration with Elly Belfort-Mattos and inspired by Karuna Mistry.
There are still very few Longettes in existence, so right now you have an exciting opportunity. You can be among the first people in the world to ever write one. And you might just change the course of history.
But be warned, the Longette has (to quote Shaun Tenzenmen) some ‘insane rules’—and it demands critical thinking, plus several hours of your time.
To paraphase Nolcha Fox, even the Longette Lite has the tendency to twist your brain into a pretzel.
Ready to dust off that thinking cap and join us?
True Longettes
Click here for the rules: How to write a Longette
Published longettes:
- Catherin J Pascal Dunk’s Thoughts on the Longette: what a longette is and what a longette is not, and a call to action—the world’s first known longette, written in December 2025.
- Shaun Tenzenmen’s This Earth Keeps the Memory of Gadigal Footsteps Through Fire, Silence, Survival, and Unbroken Song Across Two Centuries of Dispossession and Resistance – 27th December 2025.
- Mimmalisa Trifilò’s longette is coming soon!
- When will your name appear here?
The Longette Lite
Click here for: How to write a Longette Lite
Published Longette Lites:
- Nolcha Fox’s I’ve Been Standing in Line for Five Days at the Motor Vehicles Department to Renew My License While My Husband Started Divorce Proceedings and Sold the House
- Catherin J Pascal Dunk’s Sunset on the human race / A tardigrade could do better / Traditions get mangled, entangled, star-spangled / Genocide as a form of tourism: A slam poetry Longette Lite from the deviser
- Jessica Perini’s Longette Lite “At the local swimming pool — the only one with unbarbered legs and no towel, chocolates dragging me down — but the sky is blue” is coming soon on 17 January
- Karuna Mistry’s Longette Lite “Colour Contrast: A Various And Varied Variety — on Blackness, Whiteness, Greyness, Brownness — by Blacklisted & Anonymous; Whitelisted & Obvious; Gray, Greyer & Greyness; Brownlisted & Balanceness” is coming on 20 January
- Jessica Perini’s can’t get enough of this form now and joins us again for a reprise/sequel to her first Longette Lite with “A different day — an ocean pool — more forgetting — a smile that once would have fluttered a heart — no scalpels and luck holds firm”, coming 29 January
- Who’s up next? Quite possibly, Jessica Perini again…
The Monthly Longette Prompts
- January 2026: First Nations
- Febrary 2026: coming soon
The Annual Cooperatition
The Inaugural Longette Cooperation kicks off in November 2026, with entries closing on 13 December (13/12). Please subscribe to Wordflowerpoetry.com and Growing-the-Future.org for updates, and watch this space!
The Merch
- Limited edition eggshell-paper stickers: available soon!
- Tshirts from Never New: under consideration
Wordflower 