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Friday, June 26, 2020

Poetry Sisters Go Into the Woods

Tanita set our challenge this month, which was to write to the theme of susurrus or an image of thick woods, in whatever form we choose. For a minute I was completely freaked out by the thought that I had to use the word susurrus in my poem. Nope, not happening. I didn't even try. It's a fun word to say, and the kind that would make a line of iambic pentameter sing, but I just didn't have it in me to expend the time and energy to make it work. That means I decided to go with the woods.

The form I chose is the triolet. A triolet is an 8-line poem that uses only two rhymes throughout. The first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines, while the second line is repeated in the final (eighth) line. Because of this, only five different poetic lines are written.  The rhyme scheme for a triolet is ABaAabAB (where capital letters stand for repeated lines).

And guess what? As I wrote several different drafts, I actually found a way to incorporate susurrus (or a form of it), although I feel like this poem needs a glossary. Anyway, gauntlet thrown, challenge accepted, and completed! Here's my triolet.

Into the Woods
How baleful the thick night wood
marked only by slivers of light
the wolf to my red riding hood

How baleful the thick night wood
its susurrations misunderstood

As owls awake and take flight
how baleful the thick night wood
marked only by slivers of light

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2020. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written by my Poetry Sisters at the links below. 
If you’d like to write with us next month, the challenge is to write an etheree with the theme of foresight or summer or both. We'll be posting on the last Friday of the month (July 31).

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Karen Eastlund at Karen's Got a Blog. Happy poetry Friday friends!
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12 comments:

  1. Sara6/26/2020 8:27 AM

    Wow! It has a lovely hushed and yet alive vibe to it! (Also: I chuckled at how you ducked the word as "too hard" and then wound up writing an "easy" triolet...haha...Tricia, SUCH a poet thing to do....)

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  2. Liz Garton Scanlon6/26/2020 8:46 AM

    I wrote about Little Red, too! And Laura mentioned a cloak. Isn't it funny, the zeitgeist of imagery? But back to yours, this is AMAZING. I find triolets hard to do but you used the term susurrus AND put it in form like this. I'm humbled -- it's lovely. Thank you.

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  3. Karen Eastlund6/26/2020 9:11 AM

    Tricia... you nailed it! I love this poem, susurrus and all. Thank you!

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  4. Mary Lee6/26/2020 10:00 AM

    I LOVE this! I can't wait to read Liz's (I already encountered the cloak in Laura's.) Thank you for including us in your challenge! Such fun!

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  5. Janice Scully6/26/2020 11:42 AM

    I loved the use of the word baleful because it was unusual and a perfect choice for the dark wood and the repeat works so well. Nice work!

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  6. tanita✿davis6/26/2020 3:09 PM

    I'm DYING because all I heard was, "Nope, no way, no susurrus for me!" and now you're all baleful AAAAAAND susurrus, and slivers of night wood and all Gothic ans such. I LOVE it.

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  7. laurasalas6/26/2020 6:20 PM

    This is so haunting and lovely! And I so love your gleeful, well-earned satisfaction!

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  8. Michelle Kogan6/26/2020 6:47 PM

    Excellent Tricia, love your susurrations emanating from between your lines of that
    "baleful thick night wood." And I like your bit of ominousness in there too, thanks!

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  9. Linda Mitchell6/27/2020 7:55 AM

    Wow! You get an A+ Love that line, "the wolf to my red riding hood." Layers of meaning there. Wonderful tone in this...I'm scared!

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  10. Joyce Ray6/27/2020 11:42 AM

    Love this poem and learning the word susurrus from the Poetry Sisters. Baleful is a wide open mouthful of a word, just perfect for the ominous image of the wolf!

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  11. Linda B6/27/2020 1:22 PM

    Beautifully done, Tricia. That "its susurrations misunderstood" fills up with story all by itself! And it is fun that you managed the word itself.

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  12. Carol Varsalona6/28/2020 6:07 AM

    Tricia, I love how your poem starts off with the word baleful-such imagery! I marked my calendar with your July challenge. This sounds like fun.

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