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Today is National Poetry Day in the UK and the theme is ‘counting’. It’s very fitting for poets as we are also basic mathematicians; adding up syllables, enumerating lines, numbering the verses, subtracting even, as in erasure poetry, so it comes as no surprise that ‘counting’ is a frequent topic of poetry as with Margarita Engle’s poem:

“I came to Panama planning to dig
the Eighth Wonder of the World, 
but I was told that white men 
should never be seen working 
with shovels, so I took a police job,
and now I've been transferred
to the census.

I roam the jungle, counting laborers
who live in shanties and those who live
on the run, fugitives who are too angry
to keep working for silver…”[more}

Whilst both stars and lovers are in Michelle Boisseau’s poem “Counting”

“After a while, remembering the men you loved
 is like counting stars. 
From the arbitrary constellations
you pick out those the brightest. Then the others
dimmer and dimmer, till you can't tell
 if they’re real or only reflections
 from your eyes  watering with the strain…[more]

For today’s MTB prompt, we are writing a poem with THREE distinctly separate stanzas. To do so choose ONE of these two prompts that we’ve had before on dVerse and I’ve hyperlinked to title. (The rules vary a little there so stick to the following formats:

1. The Three Way Split:

  • select any compound word of 2 derivatives e.g. puffball
  • split it and write each derivative as topic for the first two stanzas e.g. puff; ball
  • join it up again as topic for the 3rd stanza
  • number or subtitle each stanza with the reference word
  • include the reference word within the stanza if not subtitled
  • line length, rhymes, meter etc are optional

OR

2. Three little words – Sarah gave us this prompt based on what3words:
“ what3words divides the whole world into 3 metre squares with each allocated a combination of 3 words, these words pinpoint your location exactly.”

  • choose your own, a well-known, or a random location from the website what3words.com
  • use your three words to write a 3 stanza poem
  • each word as topic per stanza
  • each stanza numbered or subtitled with the reference word
  • include the reference word within the stanza if not subtitled
  • line length, rhymes, meter etc are optional

Optional Triolet Challenge: since counting is the UKs National Poetry Day theme, for an extra challenge try writing either poem choice as a Triolet Trio:

  • 3 stanzas of 8 lines each
  • rhyme scheme per stanza: ABaAabAB; CDcCcdCD; EFeEefEF
  • iambic trimeter or iambic tetrameter – 6 or 8 syllables as 3 or 4 metrical feet per line

As example, here is a Three Way Split poem I also wrote as a Triolet Trio

Useful Links:
triolet stanzas + iambic trimeter HERE
How to write a Triolet

So once you have posted your poem according to the guidelines above, do add it to Mr Linky below then go visiting and reading other contributors as that is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.
[N.B. Mr Linky closes Saturday 3 p.m. EST]