Tag Archives: 22 lines

The following description and example are reposted with permission from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource.

Triad meaning three for which I have found 2 different forms of verse called a Triad.

• The Triad is a genre from ancient Irish Verse rather than a verse form although the early examples are in 3 mono-rhymed triplets. Like the Treochair it is a departure from the quatrains of Dan Direach. More modern versions allow the structure to be at the poet’s discretion. Most importantly, the poem should include 3 related subjects and their character.
  
  The elements of the early Triad are:
  1. a poem that lists 3 related things and considers their effects.
  2.  many very early Triads were written in 3 mono-rhymed triplets. Meter is at the discretion of the poet.
  3. modern interpretations of this form vary from free verse, a loose poetic form written in 3 couplets rhymed or unrhymed, or in nonce frames created specifically for the poem.
  4. most importantly written including 3 related subjects, their character and relationship.

Here is a Triad written in the 3 mono-rhymed triplets 

Uniquely Irish, The Shamrock by Judi Van Gorder

I don’t want to sound terse
nothing could be worse
I try to write a clever verse.

Of shamrock’s I will carp,
may sound a bit too sharp
not like sweet music on the harp.

In distant Ireland of all places
they cover most of the bases
even the art of shaving faces.

Seamrog, (Gaelic) shamrock, with its 3 leaves is said to represent not only the Holy Trinity, but also (the fruits of the spirit, faith, hope and charity), (love, valor and wit), (past, present and future) and uniquely Irish, (clever verse, music on the harp, and the art of shaving faces).

A variation of the Triad was published in Pathways for the Poet by Viola Berg 1977 and is attributed to Rena Ferguson Parks. It is a metered, rhymed invented form with a refrain.

The invented variation of the Triad is:

1. a poem in 22 lines made up of an octave, sixain and an octave in that order.
2. metric, all lines are iambic tetrameter accept the last line of each stanza which is a refrain in iambic dimeter.
3. rhymed, turned on only 2 rhymes, rhyme scheme xxxaxabA xxxabA xxxaxabA – b rhyme linking the stanzas and A being the refrain.

They’re Out of Names

Last week I found another life;
it’s on the Internet, you know.
If you are not already there
you must be tied up playing games,
or busy earning daily bread,
or optimistic, chasing dames.
you ought to join this word- before
they’re out of names.

I could not use a name I knew;
I tried a few and many more,
then many others after those.
“That name is taken”- screen proclaims.
I can’t be Larry anymore,
they’re out of names.

I teleport, and I can fly,
and be a woman, or a man
or be a robot or a beast,
but I cannot be John or James.
I can now choose to wander free
or be one with more lofty aims.
So join up now, and don’t be sore;
they’re out of names.

© Lawrencealot – February 4, 2015

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