This week, the Inklings are writing poems of protest for our nation’s birthday. The challenge was to"write in praise of democracy and patriotism if you’re so moved, or write in frustration and befuddlement over the “leadership” in the White House and/or Congress and/or the courts and/or and/or and/or."
I'm quite fond of the triolet, so that's the form my poem takes today. A triolet is an 8-line poem that uses only two rhymes throughout. Additionally, the first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines, while the second line is repeated in the final 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).
My protest triolet is untitled.
Rise up, voices strong and clear
in streets where silence echoes long
for every right we hold so dear,
rise up, voices strong and clear.
With armored courage, persevere
against the tide of all that’s wrong,
raise our voices strong and clear
in streets where silence echoes long.
Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2025. All rights reserved.
Image: Harris & Ewing, W. (1917) Mary Winsor Penn. '17 holding Suffrage Prisoners banner. United States, Washington D.C, 1917. [Oct.-Nov] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/mnwp000225/.
I hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading. Happy poetry Friday all!
