Try Try Try a Tricube

Winnie, February 1, 2026

Video by Amy LV

Students - We like to tell ourselves that our cat Winnie is very smart. She is an indoor/outdoor cat, and so these Days of Deep Snow when she's stuck inside make her stir crazy. A few days ago, I caught Winnie tossing knitted hearts to the ground (spreading love?) and felt it urgent to film the moment. And while you can see Winnie tossing the hearts above, you cannot see the several times I filled and refilled her heart bowl. This was a good game.

As I think about our cat's simple fun, I think about how sometimes my own writing life gets a little boring too. I let it get boring and then I avoid it. I need to throw some hearts around like Winnie did, need to try something new and see what happens. Toss some words on the page and watch them fall over and over. Well, this week I'm playing, sharing a poem in a form I've never tried before.

Last week, as I moseyed around other people's Poetry Friday posts, I learned about a new-to-me form - the tricube. This form was invented by Phillip Larrea, an American journalist, and he first shared it in 2016 at Writer's Digest. So Happy 10th Birthday, Tricube!

As you have likely noticed, this is a simple form, and you can learn more about it here at Writer's Digest. No special rhyme. No special meter. Just this:

1. Three syllables per line

2. Three lines per stanza

3. Three stanzas

I chose to give my title three syllables too!

You might enjoy playing around with this not-scary form. I enjoyed making little lists of possible phrases to include and then moving them around the page. Now I'm thinking that I could even write phrases on bits of paper and actually, physically move them around my desk. I could even be fun to invite a group people to choose a subject and each write a few three syllable phrases, each on a different slip of paper, on that subject. Then, we could take the slips and move them around to form group tricubes.

Suddenly I don't feel bored...

This week I am happy to be a part the Colorado Reading Association (CCIRA) conference in Denver, Colorado. I'll be speaking about keeping writer's notebooks and stregthening writing through poetry study. Time with teachers is time that makes me feel grateful.

Molly is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Nix the Comfort Zone with two poems after Wendell Berry's "Like Snow." Each Poetry Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Trying something new is a creative way to face moments of boredom. Go ahead and push some objects off of a desk...or maybe consider writing a new-to-you kind of poem!

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List Your Way

Our Home Nestled in Snow

Photo by Mark LV

Students - Where we live in Western New York can be very snowy, and this week has been especially snowy. So much that there was no school yesterday or today. Sometimes I know what to write about because it surrounds my every moment - and right now snow is absolutely everywhere. Out every window, out each door...we meet poofs of snow. There is almost two feet out there right now, and the snow is over three feet deep in the town where my husband Mark teaches.

Today's poem is a list poem and a celebration poem and a poem written in quatrains, or four-line stanzas. I simply began listing things I love about snowfall and snow days and snowy mornings and then tried to gently rhyme along the way. Below you can see that there was a lot of crossing out along the way, just as there always is. I love writing by hand because the act of crossing out is part of my process.

Drafting in the Snow

Photo by Amy LV

If you are not sure what to write today or this week or anytime, try beginning with a list. Maybe list things you like about something that many people do not like. (Many people do not like snow!) You need not use everything on your list, and you need not know where it will go when you begin. Your writing mind will lead when you trust it. List your way....

Linda is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Word Edgewise with a playful sharing of poem mashing together, such a fun idea! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

This week I wish you interesting weather and interesting thoughts about that same weather.

xo,

Amy

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Celebrate a Nature First

First Snow of Winter 2023/2024, Holland, NY

Photo by Mark LV

Students - We had our first snow of the winter this week...and it was such a magical surprise. Even when we know the snow is coming to Western New York, we are still charmed and surprised by the fresh, frolicking flakes. And as always, I found myself amazed and struggling to believe that each flake is unique. But indeed they are...just like each of us!

Today I share a very short poem celebrating a nature first: first snow. Can you think of some nature firsts, either in your life or in the life of any natural creature or plant or weather or sky object?

• the first time you saw a certain bird
• the first time you saw a certain (not birdy) animal
• The first time you learned about or recognized a plant or flower or tree
• the first time you had a particular nature adventure
• a first feeling in nature
• a first type of weather in a long time
• the first time an animal did something  

Firsts are worth celebrating, even little firsts, maybe especially little firsts. We are accustomed to celebrating big games and birthdays, but so many of our days are filled with small, magical firsts. Earlier this fall, I was happy to pick up my first red maple leaf of this year, pressing it into my notebook and remembering all of the others I have collected over the years. Remember that you need not write poetry in your own voice. If I were to write about picking up the first red maple leaf, I could write as me...or the leaf...or the tree...or something else. That's where some of the fun is.

Regarding line 5 of this poem, did you figure out that the love notes are snowflakes? Poets try to use language in surprising ways, and while I have heard of snow being compared to lace, I have not yet heard of it being compared to small love notes before. They do feel like beautiful love notes to me.

If you write a first poem, I would love to read it.

In other writing news, I am happy to share that my musician and English professor friend Gart Westerhout has turned another one of my poems into a delightful song with him singing and playing piano. If you would like to hear it, it is part of the post of "Doors," a poem from two weeks ago. So now, that post includes a poem inspired by art that inspired a song. We all do need each other in this world.

For part of this week and next, I am fortunate enough to be writing with the primary poets of Alden Primary School in Alden, NY. Thank you teachers, students, and administrators - I am still thinking about some of the poems I read today.

Buffy is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Buffy Silverman with a beautiful poem about a maple leaf's dance recital and a first snow celebration of her latest book, ON A FLAKE FLYING DAY: WATCHING WINTER'S WONDERS. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Watch for nature firsts this week remembering that you look for is what you will find... If you write a nature first poem, I would love to read it.

xo,

Amy

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For You - Giving a Box

Snow in the Country

February 1, 2023

Video by Amy LV

Students - The other day, I walked outside to the scene you see above. It was such a magical snow - fat flakes falling in the stillness. I captured the short video above, and as I walked back inside, I thought to myself, "I would like to give this scene, this snow, to someone who would love it." Later, I wrote that thought into my notebook.

The origins of a poem are somewhat mysterious. This one grew from that snowy day scene, and also from a line from a "The Uses of Sorrow" - a poem by Mary Oliver:

Someone I loved once gave me

a box full of darkness.

Then I remembered the time, many years ago, when I had a video chat with author/teacher Margaret Simon and a few of her students from Louisiana. We had lots of snow here, and as they do not know snow, I brought some inside, and in front of my screen gave them a tiny snowman.

So there it is: Outside Scene + Someone Else's Poem + A Memory = A New Poem.

This is why paying attention matters. Sometimes the littlest thing comes back to haunt you in the very best way.

If you were to fill a box with something and give it to another, inviting them to enjoy the contents...what might you fill it with? Of course the thing you choose wouldn't have to really fit into the box, and of course it doesn't have to be something you could even ever put into a box at all. But still...what might you select, from all of the everythings you can imagine?

It is possible that this thought will walk you right into the arms of a poem.

Laura is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Laura's Blog with a joyful celebration of FINDING FAMILY, the newest book by Laura Purdie Salas. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

For you, I offer a box full of ideas and a box full of hope.

xo,

Amy

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Weather and Form

This Morning at Home

Photo by Amy LV

Students - It is kicking off to be a snowy weekend here near Buffalo, NY where I call home! Last night we had about 8 inches of snow on the ground, and this morning we woke to another 12. It was a tricky morning to take the dogs for a walk.

Weather is always a giving writing topic, and today's dramatic weather (it's still falling) inspired me to write this poem. I began with the form of a triolet (learn about triolet poems HERE) and then changed the form to match what and how I wanted to write about this snow.

Remember: as a writer, you can take any form and:

1. Use the form as it is.

2. Change it as you wish.

3. Combine it with another form.

4. Begin writing in the form and then toss it out the window.

You are the the decision maker in your own writing, and the more we learn about forms and possibilities, the more choices we know about and can work with.

Jama is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup with an exquisite Thanksgiving buffet. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

I am thankful for you.

How Much Will Fall?

Photo by Amy LV

xo,

Amy

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Bring Personification to Nature

 

Students - You may have heard the word personification before. And you may have noticed that it holds the word person inside of it. Well, personification is the giving of human qualities to things that are not human, including animals, plants, and inanimate objects.

Today I was excited to see the new snow on the ground. I knew that I would go outside to admire the dustings of powdered sugar everywhere. But before I walked into the yard in my slippers and nightgown, I read a few poems, including one by Laura Purdie Salas. In "Ode to Bare Branches," the speaker says that they want to be like a tree, to "open my arms/drop everything/and just stand there."

Perhaps her words drew me to the little oak you see in the photo above, clinging tight to its orange in this world of white. And listening to Oak's brittle leaves tinkling like windchimes, I imagined that she just doesn't feel ready to let her leaves go yet. And that is ok. We each know the right time, OUR right time.

Now, does a tree think like a person does? I don't think so. But I gave the tree the quality of human thinking, and this is personification.

Try it. Go outside or if you cannot do so now, look out of a window or gaze at some nature photographs. Choose a natural object and ask yourself, "If this were a person, what might it think/do/wonder/believe/fear/wish? Let your poem start there.

As for the title, did you notice that the last line leads you to the title?

"then we always know/The Right Time."

There are many ways to title a piece. When you write your next piece, try out a few titles. You do not need to choose the first title that comes to your mind.

And of course this letting go is not only about leaves and oaks and melting snowflakes. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and as our family has lost two beloved grandfathers within the past many months, we deeply felt their loss at our table, just as we do each day. We are letting parts of them go, and yet we hold onto, will always hold onto so much.

I wish you the knowing.

Snowy Slipper Toes

Photo by Amy LV

Ruth is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town with a Gratiku (gratitude haiku), a thoughtful ode to "Ode to Autumn in Haiti, 2021 and a bit of thinking about odes. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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Farewell to Fleeting Things

Snowflake

by Amy LV

Students - It has not been a very snowy winter here in Upstate New York, but we did get a little bit of snow yesterday, and we are expected to have more snow tomorrow. Falling snow is peaceful, and when I have the chance to catch a perfect snowflake on my mitten, to wonder at its exquisite angles and patterns, I am amazed. I really would like to have a snowflake as a pet. But of course such a friendship would only last for a very short time.

Some of life's most lovely gifts are fleeting: snowflakes, golden hour (the pretty-light-time right after sunrise and before sunset), the full moon, blushing trees, blooming flowers, blackberries. Try noticing something in your day today that is here now...but not for long. Hello and farewell indeed...

You might have wondered about all of that repetition at the end of this poem. I decided to keep repeating the word farewell and all of those s sounds simply to stretch out the sound of goodbye.

Catherine is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core with some lovely #haikuforhope she had shared in December on Twitter. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

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