Trillium

Pathways for the Poet by  Viola Berg (1977) is a book for and by educators. Classic poetic forms as well as many invented forms which appear to have been invented as teaching tools or exercizes for use in workshops or classrooms are included. Some of these invented forms I have found in use in internet poetry communities, a testament to their staying power. On this page I include the metric invented forms found there in which appear to be exclusive to the community of educators from whom Ms. Berg drew her support. I have yet to find these in any other source… Whether classroom exercise or sharpening your skill as a writer, some of these forms can be fun to play with.

• The Trillium is an invented verse form, a pentastich with long and short lines.

The Trillium is:
○ a pentastich, a poem in 5 lines.
○ metric, iambic, L1 & L5 are trimeter and L2 – L4 are catalectic, hexameter.
○ rhymed, abbba.
○ because L2-L4 are catalectic they will have feminine endings.
xx xx xa
xx xx xx xx xx b
xx xx xx xx xx xb
xx xx xx xx xx b 
xx xx xa
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1199#dionol
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

21st Century Schooling (Trillium)

To teach to youth I know
it helps to present single facts as lyrics
and not as theories, notions esoteric,
avoiding nuances, and themes satiric.
Indoctrinate them though.

© Lawrencealot – September 28, 2014

Visual template

Trillium