Friday, April 25, 2025

NPM 2025 - Poem 25

For National Poetry Month this year, I am writing poems in uncommon, unusual, or inventive poetic forms. I'm deviating a bit from that today as I join my poetry sisters in writing a poem to a vintage photograph. 

I have so many great photographs of my grandparents and great grandparents, as well as photos my father took while stationed in Hawaii during the war that I had a hard time choosing. On Sunday, when we met, I selected photos, but my writing was too messy and I wasn't happy with the free verse I'd written. When I selected a form, everything fell into place. I love triolets, so that's what I went with. A triolet is an eight-line poem with a tightly rhymed structure and repeated lines. Here is the form.

line 1 - A
line 2 - B
line 3 - A
line 4 - line 1 repeated
line 5 - A
line 6 - B
line 7 - line 1 repeated
line 8 - line 2 repeated

You can read an example and learn more about this form at Poets.org.

This first photo is of my grandfather. 

When I saw this, I wondered where my grandmother was. I imagine she was off in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, so this poem is about the two of them.

While Grampa Sleeps
In dreams, he finds his gentle rest 
while she, through toil, must bear the day 
a world where labor's lines are pressed
In dreams, he finds his gentle rest
her hands, though weary, still invest
in keeping house, the mess at bay
In dreams, he finds his gentle rest
while she, through toil, must bear the day

My second poem is written to a photograph of the art on a WWII plane. My father had an album of photographs from his time stationed in Hawaii during the war. We never knew it existed until after his death. The war was something he never discussed. The album had several pages of nose art, most sporting half-naked pin-up girls. I chose a less racy image for my poem.

A Flying Ace's Dream
On metal wings, her image stays
a pin-up dream for skies of war
she graces flights in daring ways
On metal wings, her image stays
through battles fought and skies ablaze
by his side through engine's roar
On metal wings, her image stays
a pin-up dream for skies of war

Poems ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.

You can read the poems my Poetry Sisters have written at the links below. 
Would you like to try the next challenge? We are writing Golden shovels using a line from the Elizabeth Bishop poem Letter to NY. Are you in? Good! You’ve got a month to craft your creation(s), then share your offering with the rest of us on May 30th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems! 

I hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe. 

I also hope you'll come back tomorrow to see what new poetic form I've chosen. You can also read the other poems I've written this month.

To see what others are writing this month, check out  Jama Rattigan's 2025 National Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Events Roundup.    

Happy poetry Friday all!

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9 comments:

  1. Sara4/25/2025 8:17 AM

    What a clever twist to write about what your grandmother was doing while your grandfather rested. The triolet form really suits the idea of repetitious, unheralded labor. I hope when he woke up, he helped her, but...too optimistic/forward thinking of me? Probably.
    Your second poem is quite poignant, even though the nose art makes me laugh with that anchor bikini!

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  2. Denise Krebs4/25/2025 10:57 PM

    Tricia, you are right, the triolet form did seem to help things fall into place for you. The poems both seem flawless. I love the topic of the first poem, with your grandmother out of the scene, busy: "while she, through toil, must bear the day" Such a great line. Your grandfather had the benefit of leaving working and being able to rest at home. Your grandmother never was off duty. Your poem captures that.

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  3. Mary Lee4/26/2025 6:55 AM

    Such a contrasting view of the roles women play(ed). We hold the world together in all kinds of ways!!

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  4. Heidi Mordhorst4/26/2025 7:52 AM

    Nose art? Had no idea that was a thing! Tricia, you are really challenging yourself here, to tackle all these different forms day after day. I'm grateful because I feel like you've done enough work here to make up for all the poems I hoped to write and didn't! You managed to fit a lot of detail into your triolets--impresssive.

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  5. Linda Mitchell4/26/2025 9:39 AM

    Oh, my goodness...I 100% agree that a triolet can busy messy writing into something interesting, something that has legs. I love how form can do that. What fabulous poems to illustrate these photos. Yes, I'll bet Grandma was toiling away as Grampa napped like that. And, nose art? Yup. Those guys loved to show the enemy some sexy, didn't they? LOL.

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  6. Marcie Flinchum Atkins4/26/2025 1:00 PM

    Both of these are awesome. I love the triolet form! It's so interesting!

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  7. laurasalas4/27/2025 8:31 PM

    That poem about your grandparents--I love how the photo is of your grandfather, but your grandmother's at the heart of it. Keeping the mess at bay. As so many women do. I love this, Tricia!

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  8. Liz Garton Scanlon4/28/2025 3:15 PM

    Here's to your previously unsung grandmother! Keeping the mess at bay is sure easier said than done.
    The triolet was the perfect form for both poems!

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  9. Karen Edmisten 4/29/2025 10:26 AM

    I love the image of your grandfather and the way it inspired poetry about what your grandmother was doing. Bear the day, the mess at bay ... yes.

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