This month Catherine set the challenge for our group. Inspired by Irene Latham’s recent post, she asked us to try a triptych. I did a little research to make sure I fully understood the form. Apparently, there’s room for some interpretation 🙂 According to AI, “A triptych poem is a poetic form consisting of three distinct, yet related, sections or stanzas. It’s inspired by the visual art form of a triptych, which is a painting or sculpture made up of three panels, often hinged together. In poetry, the three parts of a triptych can explore different facets of a theme, tell a story in three stages, or offer contrasting perspectives on a subject.”
Another site I found offered additional, more complex, options, stating:
“There are two types of Triptych poetry forms:
A poem consisting of three poems of equal length displayed side-by-side, like the panels of a triptych painting. Not only do the poems work together thematically, like the painting, they actually form a fourth poem. The fourth poem is read horizontally across the three poems. This fourth poem completes the theme of the Triptych.
A poem of three stanzas. The first stanza comments on the past, the second comments on the present, and the third comments on the future. The second stanza is twice as long as the first and third.”
I fooled around with all of these, lingering with the side-by-side format for a long time, enjoying the appeal of a visual triptych and the lure of a fourth poem to complete the trio. Eventually, I put that aside to work on again at another time. It was tough! The deadline was looming and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do! But once again, I’m grateful for the birds. After looking out my window yesterday morning, I put everything aside and wrote this:
I
the birch tree stands
dappled in sun and shade
one graceful branch arcs low
a living artifact
of the weight
of winter snow
II
blue jays gather and perch
a cluster of fledglings
all flutter and clatter
and gawking beaks
a constant, raucous clamor
of bold and boisterous demand
III
sudden lift and exclamation
jays erupt skyward
in an exhalation of blue
and silence descends
as softly as a falling feather
alighting on the curve
of the empty branch
©Molly Hogan
If you’d like to see what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on the links below:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Jane Whittingham at her blog, raincitylibrarian. If the summer heat has you down, click the link and spend some time chilling with some poetry!
Nix the comfort zone 
Bluejays and beech tree for the win!
I love the hint of the past in the first stanza: the arc of the branch that remembers the “weight/of winter snow.” Then the vivid present, with fledglings “all flutter and clatter.” (SO perfect.) Finally, the “eruption” and “exhalation” that turns our eyes toward the future.
Wowsa.
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Thanks, Mary Lee. I had struggled with the challenge (many stops and starts!) and then looked out my window and it all, more or less, fell into place.
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Yes, that remembrance of winter in a very summer collection of moments is very effective. It adds a bit of the unexpected…but we only realize that after reading all parts of the triptych. Really good stuff here, Molly. That noise of the baby birds compared the the falling silence…beautiful.
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I can’t believe the racket they make! It makes me laugh–but then again, I’m not responsible for feeding them! lol
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[…] Heidi @ my juicy little universeMargaret @ Reflections on the TecheLinda @ A Word EdgewiseMary Lee @ Another Year of ReadingMolly @ Nix the Comfort Zone […]
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Wonderful imagery! I love “eruption of blue”. If I don’t know what to write, looking outside always helps.
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Thanks! There’s always something going on outside the window, isn’t there!?
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I love it that I can now picture that beech tree and bluejay laden bird feeder! And look at the triptych of bird poems: you, Catherine and Margaret! You have so much movement in your poem, Molly, and the pacing of it all is masterful.
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Isn’t that funny that we turned to the birds!?
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That’s gorgeous, Molly (or, “those” are gorgeous?) – what a soft landing! And you “nailed” those boisterous blue jays. We’ve got a lot of them around here, and they love to make their presence known. Well done.
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Thanks! Nothing says boisterous like a cluster of hungry blue jay fledglings!
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Beautiful, Molly! I like that the branch is the tree’s living memory. And that last stanza! 😍
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Thanks, Tabatha!
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Oh – that’s me, RobynHB. ;0) I tried replying to my comment but it won’t let me reply to an unapproved comment.
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Sorry for the approval delay, and thanks for making sure I knew who you were 🙂
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Enjoyed reading your resultant Triptych poem, Molly, I also enjoyed reading about your process, your journey to harvest the words. I was particularly taken by your opening stanza. The imagery was crystal clear. Always enlightening.
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Thanks, Alan. I derive so much pleasure from watching the birds in the beech tree. It’s a lovely (and distracting) view from my preferred writing space.
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Molly, Whether or not you felt the form working, it comes through beautifully in your poem. The birch alone as Past, the gathering of birds Now, the future in the coming liftoff… And I love reading across the three stanzas for the fourth poem. So lush!
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Thanks so much! It was an interesting form and I think I’ll play around with it some more. I have quite a few rejected efforts waiting for a bit of attention 🙂
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Ah, this is gorgeous. I especially loved:
all flutter and clatter
and gawking beaks
and:
in an exhalation of blue
and silence descends
as softly as a falling feather
Triptych triumph!
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Thanks! I hesitated about using the word “gawking” and double checked the meaning. It’s not a perfect fit, but I liked it and felt like it worked within the context.
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I enjoy your poem circling back to the weighty branch and its transforming lightness, lovely, thanks!
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Thanks, Michelle! There’s a lot happening on that birch tree!
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Ooh, I love how you start with all that raucousness and land on an empty branch. Lovely! xo
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Thanks, Irene. I seem to be leaning into silence with profound appreciation these days.
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There is so much I love about your triptych, Molly. The sun-dappled beech tree, the birds, the “exhalation of blue,” and finally, the “empty branch.” Well done!
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Thanks, Catherine. It was a great challenge!
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Your beeches don’t have the beech leaf disease that has decimated one hundred beeches on our property??? The plus side is that two beautiful maples will be able to flourish. Great to see you back in the writing saddle again!
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Your poor beeches! That’s awful. Your comment made me realize that I mistakenly wrote beech and meant birch! (Or maybe I was spell-corrected?) At any rate I’ve made the correction and also am breathing a sigh of relief that my beloved BIRCH isn’t in imminent danger.
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