Follow what you love.
It will take you where you need to go.
Notice every mourning dove
To follow what you love.
Look to the stars above
To show you what they know.
Follow what you love.
It will take you where you need to go.
I'm working with another form this week--the Triolet, a French form. (Pronounced TREE-o-lay) This is an 8 line form with two end rhymes.
The first line is repeated again in the fourth and seventh lines. Then all you need is two other lines --the third and fifth--to rhyme with the end word of the first line.
The second line is repeated as the eighth line, and line six needs to rhyme with this.
So if I made a chart for the triolet, it would look like this:
Line 1. A1
Line 2. B1
Line 3. A
Line 4. A1
Line 5. A
Line 6. B
Line 7. A1
Line 8. B1
With all the repetition, this is a fairly easy poem to write. My problem is always finding the right first two lines. So, I took a quotation from Natalie Goldberg, "Follow what you love, and it will take you where you need to go."
Just for fun, let me see if I can do this again with another quotation, this time from Mother Teresa.
It is not how much we do,
But how much love we put into doing.
Everything we work through,
It is not how much we do
That creates a life that's true.
Work is not what keeps us going
It is not how much we do,
But how much love we put into doing.
Hmmm, I think that one is a success too. Both of these quotes came from a deck of cards SWEET DREAMS: 36 Bedtime Wishes by Cooper Edens and Sheryl Abrams, published by Chronicle Books. These cards are designed to be left on a child's pillow at bed time.
Your challenge this week is to try writing your own triolet. You are welcome to leave your poem in the comments. Have fun trying this form.
Poetry Friday is hosted by TeacherDance this week. Linda, thank you for hosting.
As an extra bonus you might like to try writing a Valentine for your favorite book character. See yesterday's Valentine post.
Triolets are pretty tough! I really like the idea of using a quote as a starting place. It worked well for you! The second one is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tabatha. I was surprised how much easier it was for me when I started by using someone else's lines. Give it a try. I've got another I'm posting for tomorrow.
DeleteTriolet is a fun form to play with. I enjoyed both of your poems. I wrote a triolet in December about one of my father's Christmas cards: http://reflectionsontheteche.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/listen/
ReplyDeleteOh what fun. Thank you for the reference.
DeleteI love the challenge of the different forms of poetry. I posted a triolet in April of 2011 here: http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-triolet-to-rain.html
ReplyDeleteAnd in April of 2012 I wrote a poem a day of different forms, with another triolet, this one for a turtle at:
http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2012/04/t-is-for-turtle.html
Enjoy!
Donna,
DeleteI really enjoyed your turtle triolet. Thank you for sharing the link.
This sounds hard to do, but worth trying! I love what you were able to craft with these two quotes.
ReplyDeleteTara,
DeleteIt is really lots of fun. You must try it.
I've been experimenting with triolets also. I love the idea of giving the same line different meanings. Using quotes as a prompt is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThanks Liz. I found it a lot easier to use someone else's lines as a starting place.
DeleteI really like those. I'd love to try this one myself. Great idea to use quotes too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Catherine. I'm posting another triolet tomorrow.
DeleteI just love the message in both poems - simple and straightforward - follow what you love - and put much love in what you're doing, you shall never work a day in your life, such truth there, really.
ReplyDeletePoetic forms are always such a struggle for me, but I am familiar with the triolet, I must have read about this when I was reading Pat Mora's Dizzy in your eyes. Maybe someday I'd get to master the discipline of writing poetry with an actual studied form. Thanks for sharing this.
Myra Grace,
DeleteThank you for leaving a comment. Just give this form a try and I know you will be pleased with your result.
You can never go wrong quoting Mother Teresa. Thanks for the explanation of triolets (including the pronunciation :).
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Bridget. Glad you liked the Mother Teresa quote.
DeleteNice idea to take those sweet dreams quotes and work them into this form. I like the second one best :).
ReplyDeleteThanks Jama. I'm going to have to look for a quote with a food reference. Now that would be a yummy triolet.
DeleteWhat a great idea -- I think they both came out well. And by the way, I saw what Amy did with your Inspiration Envelope -- you're a genius! You may have started a THING. :)
ReplyDeleteOh that would be fun. Thank you.
DeleteI really like your Mother Theresa triolet above. Starting from a quote is a great idea. I wrote one a few years ago for my son's birthday - http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2009/03/triolet-birthday-poem.html
ReplyDeleteAndromeda,
DeleteThank you for sharing the link to your triolet for your son. I enjoyed reading your poem. How old is that bundle of energy now? The poem really captures his personality.
Not only did you do a nice job with the 2 poems, but that deck of cards sounds like a treasure trove of ideas!
ReplyDeleteOh Matt,
DeleteI have about 6 different decks of cards. I actually have a deck that is poetry forms. I pull a card from that deck and it tells me what form I'm supposed to write the poem in.
I have a deck of Julia Cameron's on developing creativity.
One deck is intended as ice breakers for making new friends. I have lots of things that I use for inspiration.
I've used Eileen and Jerry Spinelli's TODAY I WILL --A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself, for inspiration. Each day starts with a quote, I'll have to look at that again to see if I can find something for two lines of a triolet.
Thank you for the idea of writing a post about where I go looking for my poems.
Great idea to use a quote to inspire a triolet. That's a tough form, and these work well!
ReplyDeleteBuffy,
DeleteI have another triolet that I'll post tomorrow. the hard part for me has always been finding the first two lines, and using quotes (someone else's lines has made this really easy, since there are so many repeating lines.
Give it a try and I know you'll enjoy it.
Of course, I love found poems too.
I love them both, Joy. You did a great job choosing your lines to go with the quotes. The deck of cards sounds great!
ReplyDeleteLinda,
DeleteRead my response to Matt and you'll see I have several decks of cards that I use to write poetry. All my "toys" make writing poetry fun.
I have decks I've made that I sometimes use with my students.
Fun form! Thank you for your peek into how you've found success!! Your Mother Teresa Triolet is my favorite.
ReplyDelete