Terza rimas with my poetry sisters - a Poetry Friday post
This month my poetry sisters and I undertook the writing of terza rimas, a poem written using three-line nested stanzas. It can go on for an age, as in the case of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alligheri, or it can be as short as a sonnet, as in "Acquainted With the Night" by Robert Frost. It can even be combined into sonnet-like stanzas, as with Keats's "Ode to the West Wind". Basically, they go ABA BCB CDC DED etc. And usually end off with either a single line that goes with the middle of the prior stanza (in this example, E) or with a rhymed couplet of the same (i.e., EE). Tricia Stohr-Hunt wrote one that ends with a single line; Sara Lewis Holmes wrote one that goes as far as G, if you map out her rhyme scheme. I went with the shorter sonnet version.
They can be kept in separate three- and one- or two-line stanzas, or jammed all together, as Laura Salas opted to do. They are typically written in English using iambic pentameter, but Tanita Davis did a magical job using fourteeners. We chose to write on a theme involving gratitude (or similar) as a tonic for this troubled electoral season.
Here is mine:
Each night before I settle into sleep,
I make a list of what I’m thankful for,
of memories that I would like to keep.
Curled tight against the man whom I adore,
reviewing what occurred during my day,
I listen as my sweetheart starts to snore
and count my blessings. First, there is the way
my lover loves me, metaphoric warts
and all. Then there’s my kids, who live away
from home, but who’ve developed as the sort
of people anyone would like to know.
Then there’s the cat-my sweet familiar. Short
as this list is, it fills me with its glow.
And always, there is room for it to grow.
Here are the links to my lovely poetry sisters' work:
Laura: "When Hope is Not Easy (Wait, is this an election poem?)"
Liz: "Gratitude in Rhyme" and "Half Empty or Half Full?"
Sara: "A Terza Rima for the Poetry Seven"
Tanita: "paean"
Tricia: "Untitled Terza Rima"
You can reach today's Poetry Friday roundup by clicking the box below (which takes you to Laura's post - she's pulling double duty today).
They can be kept in separate three- and one- or two-line stanzas, or jammed all together, as Laura Salas opted to do. They are typically written in English using iambic pentameter, but Tanita Davis did a magical job using fourteeners. We chose to write on a theme involving gratitude (or similar) as a tonic for this troubled electoral season.
Here is mine:
Each night before I settle into sleep,
I make a list of what I’m thankful for,
of memories that I would like to keep.
Curled tight against the man whom I adore,
reviewing what occurred during my day,
I listen as my sweetheart starts to snore
and count my blessings. First, there is the way
my lover loves me, metaphoric warts
and all. Then there’s my kids, who live away
from home, but who’ve developed as the sort
of people anyone would like to know.
Then there’s the cat-my sweet familiar. Short
as this list is, it fills me with its glow.
And always, there is room for it to grow.
Here are the links to my lovely poetry sisters' work:
Laura: "When Hope is Not Easy (Wait, is this an election poem?)"
Liz: "Gratitude in Rhyme" and "Half Empty or Half Full?"
Sara: "A Terza Rima for the Poetry Seven"
Tanita: "paean"
Tricia: "Untitled Terza Rima"
You can reach today's Poetry Friday roundup by clicking the box below (which takes you to Laura's post - she's pulling double duty today).