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Posts Tagged ‘triptych’

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Shadow Triptych

Posted in Photography, Poetry, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged , , , , on August 6, 2025| 11 Comments »

By Mary Lee Hahn

On Poetry Friday, Mary Lee used this photo she took of herself with her brother and her nephew to inspire a triptych poem. I am reposting here with permission.

A triptych poem follows the guidelines similar to a triptych painting with three distinct panels tied together by color and theme. Here is a copy of Mary Lee’s poem about the photo.

I’ve been taking a course with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Last week she shared a poem by Matthew Rohrer, “There is Absolutely Nothing Lonelier”. I borrowed his first line to write my photo poem today.

There is nothing more hopeful
than summer shadows
following a path—
reaching long, like stilts
on festival clowns.
I wonder if my shadow
would fit in; it’s certainly tall enough.
Shadows still to welcome all.
Margaret Simon, draft

Please join me in writing today to this photo. Leave a small poem in the comments and offer encouragement to each other.

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Poetry Friday: Summer Bird Triptych

Posted in nature, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged , , , , , on August 1, 2025| 10 Comments »

Poetry Friday roundup is hosted today by Jane Whittingham.

This first day of August is time for a new Inklings challenge. Catherine Flynn asked us to write a triptych poem using Irene Latham’s model poem here. I also looked at Summer Triptych by Linda Pastan.

This summer with my mother’s passing, I have been thinking about the three summers that stand out in my mind in the long process of losing my parents. The first summer I had to face the reality of their aging was 2019 when they decided to move to an independent living apartment. They left the house full, and my siblings and I had to clean it out.

In the summer of 2022, I was grieving the death of my father and searching for a sign of him. And this year, my mother…

Solace, peace, comes to me in this poem. I hope you find it there, too.

Summer Bird Triptych  

July 2019 

The hummingbird feeder, 
blown glass
swirling
primary colors, 
reflects the sun, 
attracts a ruby throat hovering
while I sit alone on the porch,

Remembering. 

July 2022 

I hear a tap, tap at the window.  
A bright yellow prothonotary. 
Does he see his reflection? 
Does he want me to come out? 

Is it you, Dad?

July 2025 

The crows seem angry. 
The Merlin app identifies fish crows.
They call with a fervor I feel deep in my belly, 
calling me back to nature

and myself. 

(Free photo from Pexels)

To see how other Inklings met this challenge:

Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Mary Lee @A(nother) Year of Reading
Heidi @my juicy little universe

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Poetry Friday: Writing Poems Together

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on October 19, 2018| 8 Comments »

Brenda Davis Harsham is hosting Poetry Friday today.

We talked about descriptive poetry, writing so that your reader can visualize your topic.  I have the privilege of working with small groups of students, so I am able to collaborate with an individual student on a poem.  Chloe wanted to write about a swan.  I shared a poem from my book Bayou Song that was about the white ibis.  The poem was in a triptych form.  Chloe and I wrote a poem using the same form writing description from a photograph of a swan.  In the process, she learned the word cygnet, and we both learned that a swan tucks her cygnets under her wings.

Swan Triptych

1.
It’s the way
white wings swim
in the crawfish pond.

2.
It’s the way
mother swan protects
her cygnets
tucked into her wings
softly.

3.
It’s the way
the beautiful swan
is reflected on the water.

by Mrs. Simon and Chloe

With Landon, we used metaphor dice.  The dice turned up “My soul is a silent trophy.”  I suggested changing trophy to garden.  He loved the idea and guess what? The line was eight syllables long, perfect for the first line of a zeno. (See more about zenos here.) I asked him, “What did you see in the garden?” He remembered a praying mantis hiding in a bush.  As we continued to discuss the word choices for this poem, we decided to break the rule about the one syllable words rhyming.  Sometimes when you try to rhyme, you lose meaning.

Garden Zeno

My soul is a silent garden
Praying Mantis
Stealthy
Stands
camouflaging
into
leaves
The small garden
is their
home.

by Landon and Mrs. Simon

Collaborating with students on poems or even having students work together can result in rich conversations around word choice and produce a poem that all are pleased with.

 

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