Friday, March 17, 2023

Another Beet, Another Triolet

 
Beets and Pink Fingers
Photo by Amy LV

The Same Beets, Roasted
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Well....

It took over a year (see my post from February 22, 2022), but I like beets now! In that post, I promised that I would report back by that weekend's end on how it went with eating the beet in my photo. I never did report back and never did eat that beet. It ended up on the compost pile along with my good intentions.

But a few weeks ago, we visited our good friends Katie and Dave for dinner. Part of dinner was boiled beets with butter. And being a polite guest, I ate some. 

They were yummy! So yummy, in fact, that (never to do a thing moderation), I bought a 25 pound bag of beets and have been roasting them and making beet fries. I find myself wishing that I could eat last year's beet today,

25 Pounds of Beets
Photo by Amy LV

Since this is a follow-up poem to a triolet, I responded with a triolet. A triolet - you may remember - is an eight-line poem with a special rhyming pattern that goes like this: ABaAabAB. This means that lines 1, 4, and 7 are the same exact words so of course they rhyme with each other. Lines 2 and 8 are the same exact words, so of course they rhyme with each other, and line 6 rhymes with them. Lines 3 and 5 rhyme with lines 1, 4, and 7. Go ahead and check, and while you're at it, see what you notice about the syllable counts in each line. It's fun to do that.

I like the way that triolets circle around with repeating lines. Not only are they cool to write, I find them interesting to read, almost musical.

This week consider playing with repetition in your poems. If you don't want to tackle a triolet, perhaps choose a line or two to repeat a time or two. Or play with counting syllables. To me, this is a challenging and rewarding puzzle.

Claude, My Assistant
(Our son says he looks like a cat who would wear "little round glasses.")
Photo by Amy LV

Laura is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Small Reads for Brighter Days with wonderful book news (three books out this spring - congratulations, Laura!) and also an announcement about her 2023 National Poetry Month Project, "Digging for Poems." Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

Oh! Want to hear a crazy thing? Last February when I posted the first beet triolet...Laura was hosting that day too. Perhaps I will write a beet triolet each time she hosts - hee hee!

I hope for you that you will be happy to be wrong about something in the near future, just as I am happy to have been wrong about the goodness of beets.

xo,

Amy

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8 comments:

  1. Such a fun post, Amy! Now I want to eat a beet to make my day complete!

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  2. Those roasted beets look amazing. I ordered a Reuben sandwich in a vegan restaurant, made with roast beet. It was one of the best Reuben's I've ever had. The server told me that they roast and dehydrate somehow (to remove the extra moisture that might have made the sandwich soggy). I would love to learn to roast beets like that.

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  3. First, Amy, I love that you chose a triolet for this poem. Circling back is a perfect way to revisit not liking, not liking, and then trying and liking food. But I am laughing/crying about BEETS... because we have dear friends who deathly refuse to eat them and I continue to try to convince them that beets are yummy. Perhaps I will write them a poem!

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  4. I imagine this might be a great one for a classroom. Like brussels sprouts, they are not always favorites, but I love your poem and your new "taste treat". (I like the baby ones pickled!)

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  5. Amy, this is delightful! Thank you for sharing your beet journey! I'm a big fan of beets... golden beets and candy cane beets especially. Maybe next time Laura hosts, your triolet can be about 3 beet varieties!

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  6. I love your open-heartedness and open-mindedness. If I host every Friday for a month, I look forward to several more beet triolets :>D

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  7. Beets have always been delicious to me and I cannot understand others who do not like them. So glad you have been won over. I on the other hand cannot imagine eating even one lima bean. Are they in your yay or nay column? Looking forward to your NAPAMO Barn poems, Amy.
    Janet Clare F.

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