Today we are delving into the world of wordsmithing and pulling out a word we don’t often use – Syszgy [pronounced sɪz.ə.dʒi]  It is derived from Late Latin syzygia, from Greek syzygia “yoke of animals, pair, union of two, conjunction”.

In astrology it refers to: a straight-line configuration of two celestial bodies with the sun, whilst in classical prosody it is the metrical unit of two feet. [see The Free Dictionary]

Basically, it is the paradoxical unity that underpins duality, which brings us amongst other things to Compound words – when two (or more) words are joined, creating a different word with another distinct meaning.

As for example: Workshop – and Billy Collins’s poem that is critiquing a poem:

“…Immediately the poem has my attention,
like the Ancient Mariner grabbing me by the sleeve.

And I like the first couple of stanzas,
the way they establish this mode of self-pointing
that runs through the whole poem
and tells us that words are food thrown down
on the ground for other words to eat…[worth reading more]

And here is half tongue-in-cheek “Phobia” by Elinor Hooker

“Foe-bia is a compound word, you say, serious now,
for lasting, unreasonable fear. It’s the half turn of  tears
that come too soon—cry me a river, I cried a river over you.

It’s pronounced phobia, I say—fear
that grows inside fear—fear of that long slow
light in the back field, of the girl lost there,
in the night, away for a dark year. Yes,
I say, it’s all that, and fear the rain will rend
the sky, drown stars, and fill my empty arms
for eternity…”

And so for today’s MTB prompt you should choose ONE of these threesomes:

1. Sun; moon, earth
2. Godhead Trinity/God/Father, Jesus/Son, Holy Spirit
3. Yin, yang, oneness

OR Choose ONE of these compound words with the derivatives:

1. Body, guard, bodyguard
2. Dragon, fly, dragonfly
3. Free, lance, freelance
4. High, light, highlight
5. Rain, bow, rainbow

We are writing without any set rule for rhyme or meter:

• A poem with THREE separate and distinct stanzas
• Each stanza numbered or subtitled with the reference word
• Include the reference word within the stanza if not subtitled

Hint: Think of your poem as a trilogy or a hinged triptych. 
You could try and  unify the three way split further in your poem’s  title or by the  use of  word/phrase repeats or motifs across the stanzas – see for example John Tagliabue’s Three Poems

Once you have published your poem, add it to the Mr Linky below (by linking up, you are effectively agreeing to follow the guidelines.) Then go visiting other contributors as that is half the enjoyment of our dVerse gatherings.