The yeah write submissions editor, Rowan, recently threw down the gauntlet to the editorial and support staff and encouraged us to craft tritinas. Upon accepting her challenge, she gave each willing would-be poet three words to use within the form. Since it’s NaBloPoMo, I said, “Why not?”
Let me answer that question for you.
My three words were fair, gold, and spun or spin. As soon as I saw them, I immediately thought of Rumpelstiltskin. That wasn’t necessarily a problem since many writers retell of classic tales with amazing results.
I am not one of those writers.
I definitely wasn’t spinning any straw into gold. I’ll spare you the worst re-imagining of the fairy tale ever. You’re welcome.
I tried to clear my mind of trolls and castles and start anew. And damned if every time I saw the word “fair” this didn’t pop into my head:
Simple Simon met a pie man
going to the fair.
AAAAARRRRGGHHHH!
At this point, I decided to go off the reservation. I picked my own three words and began writing. I had a skeleton of a poem. I thought, I can do this! And then I realized that I was worrying about how the lines ended and forgetting to group them in stanzas.
That’s when I panicked and said, “To hell with it!” It’s day 10 of NaBloPoMo, and I didn’t have anything scheduled to post. So I’m treating you to this glimpse into my attempts at writing a tritina. Want to give it a try? Take my three words. Please.
So you can appreciate how tritinas are supposed to work, I’m linking to the poems composed by the other yeah write staff. Enjoy!
“Lunch Date” by Rowan
“Striations” by Meg
“Mojave” by Christine
“The Farmer’s Wife and the Crow” by Jenny
“excavation” by Arden
“Superstition” by Nate
“Flip of a Coin” by Stacie
“a comb, a chain, a task to follow” by Erica
Were you inspired to write a tritina? Maybe you have another poem you’d like to share. Submit it to the yeah write #187 fiction | poetry challenge!
that cynking feeling 
LOL! I bet yours wasn’t as bad as you think it was. I loved your re-telling of the re-telling. Very meta. 😉
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Ha! I still think you should write one, Rowan’s words or your own. (If you don’t want the ones Rowan gave you, I can totally find a use for them.) Maybe without the pressure of time, though. 🙂
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I’ll definitely try again, but I’ll need more time. And since I still need to write 20 more posts this month, I had to move on for now.
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I agree – I’ll bet it wasn’t as bad as you think. We are usually our own worst critics! I spent SO many hours doing tritinas this week 😉 Next time, Cyn!
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