Trimeric is a four stanza poem created by Dr. Charles A. Stone. The first stanza has four lines, and the remaining three have three lines each. The first line of stanzas two through four repeat the respective line of the first stanza.
The sequence of lines, then, is abcd, b – -, c – -, d – -.
MARIE ELENA’S TRYmeric
COMMON THREAD
Overcast hearts
Sizing things up
Easing in slowly
Gathering courage
Sizing things up
Piecing patchwork views
Pinning seams to dreams
Easing in slowly
Releasing tension
Edging away from the fringe
Gathering courage
and facing the future
with the notion we walk not alone.
© Marie Elena Good – 2012
WALT’S EXAMPLE
WHEN LOVE COMES TO CALL
Opportunity has knocked,
the winds of change have blown.
But, a heart in flux can’t get enough
when love comes to call.
The winds of change have blown,
bringing something new to a life
that has waited for its coming.
But, a heart in flux can’t get enough.
It yearns for a touch, a caress,
a longing kiss to steer its course.
When love comes to call,
will your heart be willing and accepting to
a welcomed guest that might stay a lifetime?
© Walter J. Wojtanik – 2012
~~~~~*~~~~~
POETIC ASIDES: Robert Lee Brewer asks us to write an “operation” poem.
~~~~~*~~~~~
At WE WRITE POEMS it’s “Post your poem” Day. This week, Joseph Harker suggested pick the first object that you see and write about it in a completely unexpected way. That’s it, no more, no less.
POETIC BLOOMINGS 
Responses
Wonderful examples of this form, Walt and Marie! Both of your endings brought a warm smile to my heart. Thank-you:)
Yes…
I agree!
The extended metaphor” works in “Common Threads” and I particularly like these lines:
“Sizing things up,
Piecing patchwork views
Pinning seams to dreams”
And the question of the title: “When love comes to call,
will your heart be willing and accepting” is the right question if change has indeed arrived so that love is not fora minute but for a lifetime.
Sometimes its not enough
to know you are out there somewhere
When all I want is to love you
with your whispers in my hair
To know you are out there somewhere
keens the moan of the wind
as it wanders in search of you
When all I want is to love you
I embrace the beautiful hunger
Folding it into a prayer
With your whispers in my hair
I hear you reply
That knowing is enough
Lovely, Janet…
So lovely, as always. Wonderful start for us, Janet!
Marie Elena
Sigh. That is so touching and sweet it just seems like a sigh. Beautiful, Janet.
Yes, “lovely” is the word to describe this!
Oh, I was going to use that word, also–Lovely!
“I embrace the beautiful hunger
Folding it into a prayer”
Sometimes that is the best, especially when the one missed thinks that “knowing is enough.”
this is so hauntingly lovely Janet … sigh
Beautiful words, Janet.
I especially like that first stanza — whispers in my hair. What a beautiful image.
… yesss…
Breathless
Just in case
you don’t want to know
I won’t tell you
How I almost drowned
You don’t want to know
that my breath HAD returned,
Tho only for a moment
I won’t tell you
That I feel myself
going under again
…how I almost drowned
last time
was nothing, compared to now…
Hen? Please tell me this is completely fictional.
Marie Elena
Hee, hee, there are many things in life, Meg, that can “take our breath away” …. which brings to mind a song called: “Take my Breath Away” by Berlin 🙂 !!!
Amazing poem Henriettta! It takes by breath away!
Thank you, Linda, it woke me up in the middle of the night and begged to be written on a page….so, I opened my window, took a deep breath and let it flow… 🙂 !
It seems that that is how the best poems are written…
Oh! I know, love it! :)!
It woke you up? I don’t think that’s ever happened to me. : ) Enjoyed reading!
LOL, yes, jlynn, something has come over me and I am not sleeping as soundly as usual…. 🙂 !
The not sleeping soundly thing I relate to but for a poem to wake me, now that’s intriguing.
Yes… sometimes my words just Need to spill out… 🙂 !
Hen, this is wonderful. So many things can leave us breathless and that sense of “drowning” so often not related to water at all.
Yes… Spot Onnn… :)!
Oh my! I always thought it would be better to drown in metaphor than in real life, but you reverse it here. I suspect you know of what you are speaking. Being able to breathe is important especially in love.
Yes… Heaven help me…. I don’t quite know what to do about it…..
Wow, fabulous Henrietta !! I really enjoyed this !
Hey Cloud!!! I am so glad you enjoyed it — AND, I must tell you that in the middle of the night, last night, Your latest poem had me laughing out loud, (that opening line was a kicker!) and, since I live in an apartment complex where the walls are paper-thin, my neighbors probably thought I had fallen thru a “crack in the wall”…. Ha, ha, ha!!! So Thank You!!! 😀 !
I might have gotten a little carried away but the Shakespeare Insult Kit I was drawing from got me howling a few times myself!
Yeah… you KNOW it’s a good line when you crack yourself up — I’ve done it a couple of times too…. sooo much Fun :D!!!
Wow Cloud, my response to you just DISAPPEARED right into thin air!!!
OM Goodness…. it’s back!
Oh, this is intriguing.
Thank you, Sara, I think you have just given me the title for a Chapbook… 🙂 !
Go to it!
… Here goes!!! … 😀 !
I love the turn from literal to figurative. Well done.
Thank you, so much, Annette!
Riveting! …and fictional right? though we poets are always treading water in a sense, huh? Great work!
Thank you, Janet, that “Cascade of water” just won’t let me be… so, I am just going to “flow” with it…. 🙂 !
clever … and fun … well done
Thanks, so much, Sharon!
WARMTH AND FORGIVENESS
Happiness requires peace.
Angry souls cannot dance.
Bitter faces turn to stone.
Cold hearts keep others out.
Angry souls cannot dance.
Too stressed to see beauty,
their joy is stunted.
Bitter faces turn to stone.
Lines remain when frowns fade.
A scowl becomes permanent.
Cold hearts keep others out.
Happiness needs warmth,
Love needs forgiveness.
Very nice, Linda. So much here.
Yes… angry souls cannot dance…
This moves like a set of instructions one step after another and thoroughly logical to show how to get to the Peace that Happiness needs.
🙂
Love this, Linda. `angry souls cannot dance’
Quick Trip
It seems the final bell just rang and
you were coming in the door.
Scattering papers and stories
while planning new ventures.
You were coming in the door
with thoughts of sleeping in and
staying up late.
Scattering papers and stories,
creating memories in shorts
and flip flops.
Whiles planning new ventures
the alarm sounded, the bus pulled up,
you headed out the door.
© KED 2012
“… creating memories in shorts and flip flops…” I shared several weeks with three charming little people who looked just Adorable creating memories in shorts, flip flops and swimming pools! 🙂 ! :)! :)! Thank you for the memory, Kelly!
Ha ha! A very quick trip indeed!
well told and so succinctly … nice use of the form
So very true! Gotta love them while you have them! Great trimeric, Kelly
Hen, I’m glad to hear everything is fine! My first thought was severe depression, using “drowning” as an analogy.
Phew! I can breathe again! 😉
Marie Elena
Aww, Meg… with a dancing Spirit like mine….uhhh… No. 🙂 ! But I thank you for your concern, and continue to be fascinated by what others “read” in our words… Hugs to you! Hen
I know! I know! LOL! Just soooo thankful you are fine.
Hugs!
meg
!!! 😀 !!!
Ill Dreams (Trimeric)
Upon the couch I sat,
out my window perched a bird,
my eyes slowly shut –
I dreamed I had wings.
Out my window perched a bird
who sang a merry song,
he made me smile just a bit
although it caused me pain.
My eyes slowly shut,
as they do quite frequently,
this illness has taken hold,
I feel it may be the death of me.
I dreamed I had wings
the illness fell away,
the pain was in the past
how I wish that was today.
Ohhh… I so wish you a pain free day!
Thank you! I just realized I look at the directions wrong! Back to the drawing board! Oops!
I agree that pain is better than at least one alternative! That ending truly surprised me. Truth in very few words.
Ill Dreams (Trimeric) revised
Upon the couch I sat,
out my window perched a bird,
my eyes slowly shut –
I dreamed I had wings.
Out my window perched a bird
he made me smile just a bit,
although it caused me pain.
My eyes slowly shut,
as they do quite frequently,
this illness has taken hold of me.
I dreamed I had wings
the illness fell away,
how I wish that was today.
Loving your poem, and wishing you health and peace.
Michelle, what a vivid way to express the way those with chronic illness feel. I hope any pain or illness you have will take wing and fly away.
ditto Linda’s words Michelle … good use of the form tho’, esp the re-write …
“A lesson in relationship”
We stand at the edges
You on your side.
a ravine in between.
I fold my hands.
You on your side
scraping a lonely meal
together for one.
A ravine in between.
Could we meet in the middle
somehow?
I fold my hands
and we weave a bridge
with our fears.
… yes… a heart-to-heart bridge, maybe?
I’d say that sums it up.
Yours is Haiku like in its imagery and attention to relationship. Lovely!
Thanks, Susan.
oooh. You so eloquently described so many relationships, whether romantic or familial. Nicely done.
Thanks, Linda.
Red Balloon
Follow the flight,
red balloon on a string.
You might wind up in another land.
Adventure can be yours.
Red balloon on a string
slipped out of a bunch,
bobbing its head, ascending.
You might wind up in another land
if you could reach out and grasp that string
at the end of the red balloon.
Adventure can be yours
in a new universe
just past the head of the red balloon.
fun.
Yes!!
Thanks, Hen.
Thanks, Susan.
What a beautiful, optimistic timeric. Thank you. I think I may try to find my red balloon!
You can do it!
Wonderful, an invitation to let loose and be free!
Thanks, Kelly!
Pressurized
It’s all piling up, and
I can’t take the pressure.
Let me go now;
I want to freely wander.
I can’t take the pressure;
It’s pushing frantically
Against my aching forehead.
Let me go now!
The pain weighs me down,
And sleep is long in coming.
I want to freely wander
In and out of dreams,
Waking or in slumber. Please.
Yes, the pressure builds in reading up to the vision of hope, and then the tiny/loud plea.
Wow. A graphic depiction of the human condition in 2012. Nicely done!
Thanks, Linda!
Very well done poem.
Thank you!
Cold Hand
The lights grow dimmer each day
as eyes are opened in the morning.
Sweet dreams become nightmares
only seen in the daylight.
As eyes are opened in the morning
the vision and the knowledge
can no longer hide in darkness.
Sweet dreams become nightmares
as the cold hand of reality
slaps the face once again.
Only seen in the daylight
are the ghosts and skeletons
that will never sleep.
By Michael Grove
😦 !
Love those last two stanzas, Mike.
“as the cold hand of reality slaps the face once again”… Truth, my friend. One can only hope that with eyes wide open, one can see the slap before it lands!
I enjoy in-form Wednesday. I tried the trimeric on a very silly topic, and thought it needed the closure of a 5th verse. See what you think:
The Cat’s Meow
Tired of repetition, the house mouse vowed
I will never more run up and down a clock;
I will not play cat & mouse, even if the cat’s away;
Above all, I will never be still or quiet again.
I will never more run up and down a clock
neither an antique grandfather nor a small cuckoo.
Take notice: My running days are over.
I will not play cat & mouse, not even if the cat’s away
My running days are over; I intend to stand and fight
until every one of its nine lives surrenders
Above all, I will never be still or quiet again
Miss Nine Lives lives will scram when my cat-erwauling begins
Meow-ing is no match for my high-pitched screams
Tired of repetition, the house mouse vowed:
My running days are over. I will stand and fight.
And I will make all the noise I please.
LOL! I don’t know about “form”, but that last stanza was a delightful closing 🙂 !
ahaha – this made me laugh right out loud … nice one
Don’t touch it; it’s delightful!
My Beloved
Technology you have at last won out
I’ve finally bowed to your superiority
My treasure box filled with love and memories
You travel literally with me everywhere
I’ve finally bowed to your superiority
You awesome high-tech piece of wizardry
Long-resisted, I admit, you are now a part of me
My treasure box filled with love and memories
You can be adjusted to accommodate all manner of things
At any time or place, and are more reliable than me, by far
You deign to travel with me uncomplainingly, everywhere
And in your most recent incarnation, you cannot even get lost
My beloved digital camera, you are my one, my everything.
S.E.Ingraham
Ha, ha, ha Surprise ending 😀 !!!
A Prayer
Give me strength
To carry on.
When I am weak,
Be my victory song.
To carry on
In the midst of the storm
Seems hopeless some days.
When I am weak,
Calm the waves
Threatening my sanity.
Be my victory song
When joy seems lost
In a sea of doubts.
Ah yes, be my Victory song!
These Crazy Trimerics
I can’t get a handle on
These crazy trimerics.
Give me good old sonnets or
Some fun and silly limericks.
These crazy trimerics
Just mess with my mind,
Leaving me a line behind.
Give me good old sonnets or
Something else more classical,
Not trimerics fantastical.
Some fun and silly limericks
Would suite my taste just fine,
But trimerics? Not another line!
Ha! I have to admit, I kind of agree.
Hee, hee
Very clever – and agree with the sentiment although I’m not a fan of limericks (I’m not clever enough to write them). I like the structure and discipline of using new forms but they also drive me a bit nuts. All good, I suppose.
Oh yes, new forms are definitely good for me as well. I’ve just found the trimeric to be very tricky, and I haven’t really been satisfied with the outcomes of my attempts at the form so far. And as far as limericks go, I’m not really clever enough to write good ones either, but it’s fun to try. 🙂 Perhaps I just like them because they are a familiar form.
Nicely done and very cute use of the form…I have found I actually enjoy Trimeric writing, but limericks I think not!
Thanks Kelly! I’m glad someone’s having better success with this form than I am. 😛
[…] The following three poems are trimerics; the trimeric is the poetic form that was featured at Poetic Bloomings […]
“Gettin’ You Home” *
Can we just keep it lite
at first
You know, enjoy each other’s company
Without a lot of words…
… at first
because I would Love to just talk to you…
but, for me, these things take time,
you know. (Let’s just) enjoy each other’s company
Before all the words get in the way
leaving precious little room
without a lot of words
that crowd out the place
for a sweet kiss.
(Thank you, Chris Young, musician; and Mark Windham, poet :)! )
I need to chang my last line:
“Gettin’ You Home” *
Can we just keep it lite
at first
You know, enjoy each other’s company
Without a lot of words…
… at first
because I would Love to just talk to you…
but, for me, these things take time,
you know. (Let’s just) enjoy each other’s company
Before all the words get in the way
leaving precious little room,
without a lot of words
that crowd out the place
of a sweet kiss.
(Thank you, Chris Young, musician; and Mark Windham, poet 🙂 !)
How beautiful, Hen!
Aww… thank you, Sara! 🙂 !
Walt and Marie: You both outdid yourselves with this form, which I found tricky to compose.
[…] Poetic Bloomings for the form (trimeric) and Three Word Wednesday for the words – emotion, falter and touch. […]
Bruised
The garden gate swung open,
my emotions raged and roared.
I felt my feelings falter,
the flowers bruised and tired.
My emotions raged and roared,
then whimpered and died.
Your familiar touch felt cold.
I felt my feelings falter,
my faith in your sunlight
buried in the rain soaked mire.
The flowers – bruised and tired-
can be pruned and tied.
But what if roots have died?
Nicely done, Annette…painful truths.
I like this. Beautiful imagery.
Thanks. I’m not totally pleased with it even after revising it to death. The form and I have trouble flowing together.
I feel your pain on that one; this is a super tough form to get flowing smoothly.
“…the flowers bruised and tired…” Sadness…
Thanks Hen! That was the primary emotion I tried to convey, sadness.
Fatigue
My mascara’ed lashes feel heavy
I can barely keep my eyes open
This may be an anodyne for the insomniac
But I have to drive home.
I can barely keep my eyes open
So I sing an offkey song
With words like dadadadadadadooooooooo
This may be an anodyne for the insomniac
But I don’t need that medicine now
It’s just a perverse distraction unlike the radio
But I have to drive home
And there are miles to go
Before my lids can safely close.
###
Love your opening line. Remember many drives in that situation…rolling the windows down for the cold blast of air in my face.
Yes… as someone who Loves to drive… (hee, hee, and Sing) ! … then, getting home for a nice, hot shower and a lovely deep sleep… Mmmm…
Heeheehee . . . I love the second stanza. 🙂
Commuter
Once on the subway
A man walked amidst shuttered people
He said he’d sing
Until he was paid to stop.
A man walked amidst shuttered people
Just another disheveled, atonal ghost
In search of a strap-hanging audience
He said he’d sing
But his song was already playing on their Walkmans
So he tried to claim his royalties
Until he was paid to stop
He said he’d sing. It didn’t matter: the shutters remained closed
So the man walked through to the next car.
###
[…] every precious morsel. You sustain me with every breath, every word, every touch, every glance. Poetic Bloomings asked us Wednesday to write a Trimeric poem, and I’m just now getting around to it. This […]
Shine!
As the sun peaks out from behind the clouds
you peak out tentatively. May you break out in full radiance,
bringing warmth, energy and life to the people you know.
not because you are great, but because God is.
You peak out tentatively. May you break out in full radiance,
not hiding your gifts and talents like thick drapes blocking the sun
but shining in all the dark corners, lighting up a home.
Bringing warmth, energy and life to the people you know,
beaming rays causing growth, harvest, joy!
You do make a difference, yes indeed.
Not because you are great, but because God is.
He is love and loves passionately. You are His vessel.
So shine brightly through troubles, painting rainbows.
[…] In-form Poet Wednesday – Trimeric (poeticbloomings.com) […]
[…] 28 is a trimetric that doesn’t make a lot of sense, I don’t think. I’m supposed to be studying for […]