Miriam Hechtman和Ella Mitchell于1994年在墨尔本RMIT大学相识，成为了亲密的朋友。[1]然而，进入30多岁后，由于生活重心的差异，两人的沟通出现了困难，甚至经历了数月的沉默期。[1]为了打破这种僵局，她们尝试通过交换歌词和诗歌片段进行沟通，这个过程持续了约6个月。[1]
后来，Hechtman和Mitchell决定创立"四行诗项目"，每周互相发送4行原创诗歌，这个项目坚持了5年之久。[1]通过这种创意的表达方式，两人重新建立了深层的情感联系。Miriam Hechtman表示："诗歌确实拯救了我们：它以我们在日常对话中无法做到的方式重新打开了彼此的生活。"[1]
现年50岁的Miriam Hechtman是作家兼艺术策展人，同时也是现场诗歌空间Poetica的创始人；[1]53岁的Ella Mitchell从事沟通管理工作。[1]两人最终通过诗歌修复了因生活方向不同而疏远的友谊。
Miriam Hechtman and Ella Mitchell, who met at RMIT University in Melbourne in 1994, found themselves drifting apart in their thirties as their lives took different directions [1]. The two friends experienced months of silence as communication became strained [1]. Rather than allow the rift to widen permanently, they embarked on an unconventional remedy: a creative project centred on poetry.
After approximately six months of exchanging song lyrics and poetry fragments, the pair formalized their approach by launching what they called the "Quatrain Project" [1]. For five consecutive years, Hechtman and Mitchell exchanged four lines of original poetry with each other on a weekly basis [1]. This sustained creative dialogue proved transformative. As Hechtman, now 50 and working as a writer and art curator, reflected on the experience: "Poetry really did save us—it reopened each other's lives in ways that everyday conversation couldn't" [1]. Mitchell, 53 and employed in communications management, joined Hechtman in recognizing how the written word had facilitated a deeper emotional reconnection [1].
The success of their personal project underscores the power of artistic expression in mending fractured relationships. Hechtman has since channeled this experience professionally as the founder of Poetica, a live poetry space [1].