Poetry Friday Is In the HOUSE!

I haven't hosted Poetry Friday in ages, so welcome. I'm happy to have you here today! I'll be rounding up old-school style (no Mr. Linky), so leave me a note about your contribution and I'll update links to posts throughout the day. Without further ado, here's my contribution to poetry goodness today.

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It's no secret that I love math . . .  wait! Where are you going? If you love poetry then by association, YOU LOVE MATH! In reading and writing poetry you can't escape patterns (just think rhyme scheme or look to forms like the sestina, villanelle, roundel, and more!), counting (how many syllables in a line of iambic pentameter or lines of haiku?), geometry (some poems are beautifully shaped, either intentionally or by serendipity), fractions and measurement (where exactly should I break this line?), and probably so much more.

My love for math means I have an affinity for poems that touch upon numbers. Among them you'll find Child Margaret, Number Man, and Arithmetic (see this amazing video) by Carl Sandburg, Take a Number by Mary O'Neill, Equations by Patricia Hubbell, The Magic of Numbers by Kenneth Koch, and Cardinal Ideograms by May Swenson. 

Today I'm sharing an old favorite by Mary Cornish and a new favorite by Jared Harel.

Numbers
by Mary Cornish

I like the generosity of numbers.
The way, for example,
they are willing to count
anything or anyone:
two pickles, one door to the room,
eight dancers dressed as swans.

I like the domesticity of addition--
add two cups of milk and stir--

Read the poem in its entirety.

Numbers

by Jared Harel

My grandmother never trusted calculators.

She would crunch numbers in a spiral notebook

at the kitchen table, watching her news.

Work harder and I’d have more to count,

she’d snap at my father. And so my father worked

harder, fixed more mufflers, gave her receipts

Read the poem in its entirety.

If you're interested in infinity, here's a small collection of poems.

Do you have a favorite mathematically-inclined poem or a book of mathematical poetry? If so, please share and I'll include them here!

Thanks to Ed DeCaria for sharing the poem Slumber to Numbers by Eric Ode, an entry in last year's MMPoetry competition. 

I'm THRILLED that Mrs. Bennett has shared links to two recent posts on ways that math and poetry intersect. These posts show how the Common Core standards in ELA and Math can come together. Check out her thoughts on this in the posts "Do Not Go Gentle' with that Math Practice Standard #7 and A Sestina Follows a Pattern. 

Thanks to Laura Shovan for sharing this AMAZING video showing the graphing of a sestina!

And now, on to the round-up.

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Book Reviews and Interviews
Linda Baie of Teacher Dance is sharing a review of the book WEIRDO ZOO by Catherine Johnson. This one includes a giveaway!

Catherine from Reading to the Core shares a bit about EUREKA! POEMS ABOUT INVENTORS by Joyce Sidman. She's also sharing an original poem.

Laura Shovan of author Amok is sharing an interview and excerpts from WORLD CLASS: POEMS INSPIRED BY THE ESL CLASSROOM by Jane Elkin.

Jama Rattigan of Jama's Alphabet Soup is wrapping up the blog tour for THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END, by Joan Bransfield Graham. This one includes a book review, recipe and a giveaway!

Diana Mayr of Random Noodling is sharing her thoughts and some poems from CHINESE MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES, selected by Robert Wyndham, and illustrated by Ed Young.

Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children is sharing a sneak peak of the forthcoming (2014) poetry titles. Hurray!

Janet of All About the Books with Janet Squires shares a bit of WINTER EYES: POEMS AND PAINTINGS by Douglas Florian.


Lyrics as Poetry
It seems many of us are missing and honoring Pete Seeger this week.
Mrs. Bennett of Used Books in the Classroom is sharing thoughts on Pete Seeger and the lyrics to This Land is Your Land. Don't miss the video.

Michelle Barnes of Today's Little Ditty is also sharing thoughts on Pete Seeger and the lyrics to Oh, Had I a Golden Thread. This one also contains a wonderful video.

Ruth of There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town is sharing the lyrics (and video!) from the song Green Garden by Laura Mvula. This one will make you want to get up and dance!


Original Poems

Steven Withrow at Crackles of Speech is sharing an original poem entitled City of Birds.

Linda Baie of Teacher Dance is sharing a "chalky" poem. (You'll just have to read to find out what that means!)

Greg Pincus of GottaBook is sharing a hilarious poem entitled Notes on Spirit Day at My School (Part 1).

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of The Poem Farm is sharing an original poem entitled Once Somebody Asked Me.

Mary Lee of A Year of Reading is sharing a climbing rhyme entitled Sweet Little Kitty.

Liana Mahoney of Commas Have Wings is sharing an acrostic poem for the word Clutter.

Margaret Simon of Reflections on the Teche shares an original chalky poem and two from her students.

Laura Purdie Salas is sharing an audio of her poem Blush from STAMPEDE!: POEMS TO CELEBRATE THE WILD SIDE OF SCHOOL.

Heidi Mordhorst of My Juicy Little Universe is sharing a poem entitled tenebrio molitor. Don't let the mealworms scare you away. There is beauty in this one.

Liz Steinglass shares a poem about her cat entitled Song and Dance.

Anastasia Suen of Poet! Poet! has posted an original poem entitled The Learning Curve.

Keri Lewis of Keri Recommends is sharing an original mask poem entitled Dollar Bill.

Briget Magee of wee words for wee ones is sharing an original poem entitled Resolution Reflection.

April Halprin Wayland of Teaching Authors is sharing her mask poem entitled Gardenias Ask the Night. April reminds us that today is the last day to enter a contest to win Jill Esbaum's rhyming picture book I HATCHED!.

Diane Kendig of Poemeleon posted a comment to a very old poetry stretch of mine and I felt her poems were too good to pass up, so I'm posting them here for you. She shares two nesting poems entitled Nesting and Winging It respectively.

Betsy H of I Think in Poems and the hostess (instigator?) of Chalk-A-Bration shares her first chalky poem of 2014. Visit her blog Teaching young Writers to learn more about Chalk-A-Bration.

Lorie Ann Grover of On Point: Writing Through Life shares her original haiku entitled Headlight.

Joy Acey of Poetry for Kids Joy is sharing her original poem entitled Friday.

Carlie of Twinkling Along is sharing an original poem about homesickness for your ancestors entitled My Roots Are Showing.

Doraine Bennett of Dori Reads took up this week's poetry stretch and is sharing her climbing rhyme entitled Snow Day.


The Poetry of Others
Jone of Check It Out is sharing the poem Poetry from ASK ME: 100 ESSENTIAL POEMS by William Stafford.

Tabatha Yeats of The Opposite of Indifference is sharing poems of empathy and encouragement by Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, and Robert Bly.

Renee LaTulippe of No Water River shares the poem Soccer Ball by Joan Bransfield Graham. If you write a Winter Olympics themed poem that "speaks" to a piece of sporting equipment and leave it in the comments, you'll be entered in a giveaway to win Joan's new book!

Tara Smith at A Teaching Life shares the poem Mindful by Mary Oliver.

Diane Mayr of Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet is mindful of the Chinese New Year and is featuring a poem by the classic Chinese poet, Li Bai. The poem, Drinking Alone With the Moon is translated by Vikram Seth.

Irene Latham of Live Your Poem is sharing some snow poems by Karla Kushkin.

Little Willow of Bildungsroman is sharing the poem Snowy Night by Mary Oliver.

Becky Shillington of Tapestry of Words is sharing two poems by Robert Burns. She also shares an original poem entitled Snow Day.

Karen Edmisten is on the same wavelength as Tara today and is also sharing Mindful by Mary Oliver. The road that took these women to this poem is different, so be sure to visit them both. While you're visiting Karen, be sure to wish her a happy 30th anniversary!

Meredith Henning of Sweetness and Light is sharing the poem Address To a Haggis by Robert Burns.

Fats Suela from Gathering Books is sharing The Princess: Sweet and Low by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.


The Writing Life
Ed DeCaria of Think, Kid, Think! is sharing some wonderful thoughts on writing in a post entitled 10 Writing Tips From My Junk Drawer.

Diane Mayr of Kurious K's Kwotes is sharing a quote/poetic excerpt from Li Bai and encouraging poets to "recognize their green mountains."

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Before you go, please considering stopping by yesterday's blog tour post with Joan Branshfield Graham to learn a bit about her and her new book, THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END. At the end of that post you can enter to win your very own copy.

Enjoy your weekend and all the poetry goodness shared today!

The Poem That Will Not End - Talking With Joan Bransfield Graham

What happens when poetry takes over your life? Ryan O'Brian finds out when he spouts poetry and writes poems all day long!

While at recess he says:

I beg you, won’t you help me?
Please help me, be a friend.
Rescue me, I’m captured—
this poem will not end!

Then later in the evening while taking a bath he proclaimed:

My brain went into overdrive,

I started writing faster,
careening wild at breakneck speed—
a poetry disaster.

Early the next morning he laments:

I spent a restless night and thought,
Whatever can I do?
When I woke up, I found my pillows
covered with . . . haiku!

THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END: FUN WITH POETIC FORMS AND VOICES, written by Joan Bransfield Graham and illustrated by Krysten Brooker, is a fun-filled romp through the day in the life of a young boy who gets caught up in poetry.

While the rhyming text of the story keeps readers moving forward, it's the poems written in the illustrations that make you stop to soak in all the poetry goodness. You’ll find a villanelle, sonnet, acrostic, haiku, limerick, and many more forms. This triolet describes just how caught up Ryan is in writing poetry.

CAPTURED

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way, 

to free me from this urgent need to write? 

|t follows me and hounds me night and day. 

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way,

 to toss aside this curse—| want to play! 

You must admit . . . this is a scary sight. 

|’m captured, won’t you help me find a way, 

to free me from this urgent need to write?

All poems ©Joan Bransfield Graham. All rights reserved.

While reading this book I found myself thinking back to MATH CURSE, written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. In it, readers follow a nameless student who lives a day filled with math problems. This book is different in that Graham has given readers a boy with a name, a family, and an ordinary life filled with poetry. Kids will love the story, while teachers will love the fun poems and poetic forms that are introduced.

Reading this had me wanting to ask folks around me, "how do you use poetry in your own life?" I think that’s a great question to put to the very talented author of this book. Here are her thoughts about that and some more on her poetry writing process.

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How have you used poetry in your own life?
Joan:  I make my own cards with my original photos and poems.  Isn't poetry what we reach for in life's most important, emotional moments? But I think poetry is how you see the world. It expands our vision, helps us see higher, wider, deeper . . . longer.  It captures a moment in time. Sometimes life can take over your poetry. I found if I didn't make poetry an important part of my life, I wasn't the person I was meant to be. It can be a continuing challenge to fit everything in . . . a juggling act. While POEM is written in a humorous vein to let children see that poetry is FUN, I hope it also makes some small statement that we must embrace our creativity, our uniqueness, and weave it into our lives; we are all richer for it. Ryan O'Brian, in the end, does "make it work." I love how poetry connects us to ourselves, to each other, to the world. We have such a vibrant poetry community! Here's to celebrating each other's imagination, sharing a healthy, joyful creative "Fever," and staying connected. 

When was the main text/poem of the book composed? How did it start? 
Joan: Many years ago, and "It started with a rhythm,/ a rhythm and a rhyme." and I couldn't stop--I kept adding more ideas. The line "My mom called up, "Are you in bed?" is directly from my life. I was a "night owl" even as a child and was probably reading a book or writing poetry as late as I could. I never wrote on the mirror with toothpaste though.

Did you share your drafts of the poems before you finished the book? Is there an individual or a group of individuals with whom you regularly share work? 
Joan: Yes, I did. When I first moved to California, I met some wonderful poets (They were writing for adults.), and they are still dear friends. I'm in a terrific, helpful critique group of fellow SCBWI writers (I'm the only poet.), and we meet at my home once a month.  I'm also a founding member of the Children's Authors Network (CAN!)--a marvelous group of authors and illustrators, which includes poetry dynamos Janet Wong and April Halprin Wayland (also with Teaching Authors). If you click here, and then again on "Classroom Resources," http://canetwork.weebly.com/joan-bransfield-graham.html, you'll find my Teacher Ideas, across the curriculum, for POEM and other useful guides. As Co-coordinator of Ventura County for our SCBWI Central-Coastal California region, I help to plan a variety of events throughout the year for writers and artists in our area.  

How long do you let your poems “sit” before you let them go? Do you finish poems or abandon them?
Joan: As long as they need. Rather than "abandon" poems, I think of them as being in various stages of incubation. It does help to let a poem "cool" for a few days and then look at it anew with "fresh eyes." 

Do you have a favorite poem from the book? Or a poem that you loved that didn’t make it into the final manuscript? 
Joan: I'm fond of "Bike," the poem from yesterday's prompt. Couldn't "Bike" be a metaphor for poetry? When you "step on," you are in for a ride that can "take you anywhere." I hope "the road ahead" is filled with poetry for all your readers. Tricia, you are doing an incredible job of seeing to that for both the fans of your blog and your students! 

Would you like to share the details of any new poetry project(s) that you’re working on?
Joan: So many things! Lee Bennett Hopkins has a new book, MANGER, scheduled for Sept., 2014, and I am fortunate to have a "Rooster" poem included--in fact, I see my rooster is on the cover! I have many other poems in forthcoming anthologies. When a friend whose son teaches high school English mentioned his students wondered why they needed to study poetry, I started writing an article--FIVE REASONS TO GIVE CHILDREN THE GIFT OF POETRY. I'm not sure where I'll send that piece when it's finished, but I need to write it. I guess I'm Ryan O'Brian.

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Joan nearly 5 years ago for a National Poetry Month series. You can read more about her and her poetry at Poetry Makers - Joan Bransfield Graham.

THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END is a welcome addition to the world of children's poetry. I do hope you get a chance to enjoy it.

Thanks so much to Joan for inviting me on this blog tour. You can check out the other stops on this electronic journey at:
Monday, Jan. 27 - Poetry for Children
Tuesday, Jan. 28 - Tales from the Rushmore Kid
Wednesday, Jan. 29 - Double Olympic Poetry Challenge and Teaching Authors
Friday, Jan. 31 - Jama's Alphabet Soup

So now for the fun! If you'd like to win a copy of THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END, please enter below. A winner will be chosen on February 5th.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Climbing Rhyme

The form for this week's stretch is climbing rhyme.

Climbing Rhyme is a form of Burmese poetry containing a repeated sequence of 3 internally-rhymed lines consisting of 4 syllables each. Since Burmese is monosyllabic, this works well, but in English this might be difficult. Instead of 4 syllable lines, let's try writing in lines of 4 words. (If you're feeling brave, go ahead and try four syllables!)

The rhyme scheme for climbing rhyme is internal. That means the position of the rhyming word changes. The rhyme appears in the 4th word of line one, 3rd word of line 2, and 2nd word of line 3. The pattern continues as a new rhyme appears in the 4th word of line 3, the 3rd word of line 4, and the 2nd word of line 5. This continues on, giving a stair-step feel to the poem, hence the name climbing rhyme.

For those of you who need to see this visually, here it is. Each x stands for a word. The letters stand for rhyming words. Just remember the 4-3-2 pattern.
x x x a
x x a x
x a x b
x x b x
x b x c
x x c x
x c x x

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a climbing rhyme. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Anaphora

Anaphora is "the repetition of the same word or phrase in several successive clauses." Whitman uses anaphora in the poem Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking. Here is an excerpt.

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird's throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
leaving his bed wander'd alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
Down from the shower'd halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as
if they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and
fallings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as
if with tears,
From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in
the mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous'd words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing.

You can learn more about anaphora at Poets.org.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a poem that uses anaphora. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

The Ballad of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

On this day in which we honor and remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am pleased to share this poem by J. Patrick Lewis.

The Ballad of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

Ten thousands join ten thousands

Without goading police.

The singers sing, their anthems ring,

The speakers say their piece.

Around the world astonishment—

The ceremonies heard

Or seen on every continent,

And still to come: The Word.

Spectators waving handkerchiefs,

Small children, hearts to seize,

Will tell it taller years from now,

Grandchildren at their knees.

Blue sunshine worships morning,

No cloud would dare to rain

For in his jacket mercy

And in his pocket pain.

Equality his brother

And sisterhood his pride

Meet common sense, nonviolence,

The means he’s deified.

The afternoon is dying down,

The Reverend takes the stage.

George Washington spreads out the book,

Abe Lincoln turns the page.

He reads his notes religiously,

An old familiar theme.

“But please, Martin,” Mahalia yells,

“Tell ‘em about the dream!”

And first he puts away his speech

Then sweeps away the crowd:

The memory of his remarks

Peals like a thundercloud.

“The content of our character”

Personifies a sage.

One day in 1963

Belongs to every age.

Poem ©J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

If you are interested in more poems on civil rights heroes, check out When Thunder Comes: Poems for Civil Rights Leaders by J. Patrick Lewis. It includes an introductory sonnet and seventeen poems about both women and men who stood up against injustice of every kind. This is how the book begins.

The poor and dispossessed take up the drums

For civil rights—freedoms to think and speak,

Petition, pray, and vote. When thunder comes,

The civil righteous are finished being meek.

Why Sylvia Mendez bet against long odds,

How Harvey Milk turned hatred on its head,

Why Helen Zia railed against tin gods,

How Freedom Summer's soldiers faced the dread

Are tales of thunder that I hope to tell

From my thin bag of verse for you to hear

In miniature, like ringing a small bell,

And know a million bells can drown out fear.

For history was mute witness when such crimes

Discolored and discredited our times.

Poem ©J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

You can learn even more about this book in the Chronicle Books Blog post U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis Writes about Rights.

Poetry Friday - Animals

When William was in third grade (spring 2010) his teacher had the class copy and illustrate poems that "spoke" to them in their journals. This poem by Valerie Worth was one of his choices.

As I flipped through the journal this poem came from I found a short entry on the word brave. Here's a portion of what he wrote.

"My dog is brave during a short thunder storm. My dog is brave guarding her cookie."

As some of you may know, we lost our brave girl this week. Just two weeks after being diagnosed with cancer her quality of life began to diminish much more rapidly than any of us expected. I came home from class on Monday night and we made the decision to have her put to sleep the next morning. Though she was with us for 16 years, it felt like our time together was too short and that the end came much too quickly. We weren't ready to let her go, but it was undoubtedly the right thing to do.

The house is unimaginably quiet now, and I wince each morning as the urge to call her works its way up in my throat and I realize she isn't there to hear me. I've spent the last few days thinking of all the milestones she shared with us, including welcoming William to the family, an event that she wasn't particularly happy about!

I am grateful to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for sharing a poem with me earlier this week that really resonated. That is the poem I'm sharing today. 

Animals

by Miller Williams

I think the death of domestic animals

mark the sea changes in our lives.

Think how things were, when things were different.

Read the poem in its entirety.

Sometimes I think I'm crazy for feeling so lost over the death of a dog, but then I remember that I'm not the only one to feel the loss of a devoted companion so keenly. If you haven't seen this little piece by Jimmy Stewart, take a few minutes to watch him read a poem about his dog Beau.

Before I wrap up I have one more poem to share.

Love That Dog
by Sharon Creech

Love that dog,
like a bird loves to fly
I said I love that dog
like a bird loves to fly
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
"Hey there, Sky!"


Thanks for sticking with me through this long post. Do check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Keri at Keri Recommends. Happy poetry Friday friends.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Pantoum

This week's stretch is a real S-T-R-E-T-C-H. The form I have decided to tackle is the pantoum. I have read a great deal about this form and found many variations. I am not going to try and do this one in rhyme, though you can if you want to attempt it. Are you ready? Here's the form.

The pantoum is a poem made up of stanzas of four lines where lines 2 and 4 of each stanza are repeated as lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza. The final stanza of a pantoum has an interesting twist. Lines 2 and 4 are the same as the 3rd and 1st of the first stanza, thereby using every line in the poem twice.

Here is an outline for a pantoum with 4 stanzas.
Line 1
Line 2
Line 3
Line 4

Line 2
Line 5
Line 4
Line 6

Line 5
Line 7
Line 6
Line 8

Line 7
Line 3Line 8
Line 1

Keep in mind that this form of poetry is of an indefinite length. It could be three stanzas, 4 stanzas or 20!
(Adapted from The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms.)

A fine example of a pantoum is this one by Randall Mann. It has 6 stanzas.

Pantoum

If there is a word in the lexicon of love,

it will not declare itself.

The nature of words is to fail

men who fall in love with men.

It will not declare itself,

the perfect word. Boyfriend seems ridiculous:

men who fall in love with men

deserve something a bit more formal.

Read the poem in its entirety.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a pantoum. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.

Poetry Friday - How Much?

When William was young and I told him I loved him, he would ask "How much?" The replies began with "More than ..." and included phrases such as: all the tea in China, all the stars in the sky, and all the fish in ocean. After a while it became a game for us to see if we could come up with a new saying that represented something huge.

When I stumbled upon this poem by Carl Sandburg, I was reminded of this. William's almost 13 now, so he doesn't ask "How much?" very often anymore.

How Much?
By Carl Sandburg

How much do you love me, a million bushels?
Oh, a lot more than that, Oh, a lot more.

And tomorrow maybe only half a bushel?
Tomorrow maybe not even a half a bushel.

And is this your heart arithmetic?  
This is the way the wind measures the weather.


You can listen to Sandubrg read this poem at The Poetry Foundation.

Check out other poetic things being shared and collected today by Donna at Mainely Write. Happy Poetry Friday all!

Monday Poetry Stretch - Trimeric

Happy new year! After a short break for the holidays, the Monday Poetry Stretch is back and ready to take on another form.

The trimeric is a form that was invented by Dr. Charles A. Stone. Here's how he describes it.

Trimeric \tri-(meh)-rik\ n: a four stanza poem in which the first stanza has four lines and the last three stanzas have three lines each, with the first line of each repeating the respective line of the first stanza.  The sequence of lines, then, is abcd, b - -, c - -, d - -.

At first I thought this would be relatively easy because the first lines of stanzas 2, 3 and 4 are already written (seeing as how they use lines 2, 3 and 4 of the first stanza). Boy, was I wrong! That first four line stanza is so important! The lines must hang together, but they must also be able to stand on their own as introductions to the other stanzas. 

There are many examples on Dr. Stone's trimerics page. Here is one of my favorites.

UNSIGNED

by Dr. Charles A. Stone 

I sent her a secret message on her birthday,

though she thought it was an ordinary card

in an every day envelope

from the innocent boy next door. 

Though she thought it was an ordinary card

she taped it to the wall with others she had

received in her eleventh year.  Then, 

in an every day envelope,

she mailed a simple thank-you note

back to me, but she forgot to sign it. 

From the innocent boy next door

to the man I am today, I’ll never forget how hard

I cried because I had forgotten to add I love you. 

Published with the author’s permission.

I hope you'll join me this week in writing a trimeric. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.