Three Poems in One Verse Form

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Invented Forms

Three Poems In One

I have found that there are a few invented forms that attempt to create 3 poems in 1 poem. Each has its own unique approach. The feature these forms have in common is the reader must be in on the pattern or they probably won't get it.

Cleave Poetry is a poetic genre in which 3 separate poems are intertwined into one woven poem.

"The word cleave is a contranym, a word with 2 opposite meanings: verb 1) split or sever along a natural grain or line. 2) divide; split. verb 1) stick fast to. 2) become strongly involved with or emotionally attached to. " Old English Compact Oxford English Dictionary There seems to be a movement to promote the verse form at Wordpress.

The 3 poems are written with meter, rhyme and number of lines at the poet's discretion. The one requirement is to create side by side poems that can be merged into one poem.   One of the best examples of this form that I have found is Miracle on the Hudson by Dave Schneider at Writing.com.
Here is my poor attempt.                                 
                                 cleave, an oxymoron

                                 one can split,  one can cling
                                 divide in half,  make a merge
                                 the axe sharp, the body soft
                                 fuel for war,    hug of peace
                                 one is two ,     two are whole
                                                      ~~Judi Van Gorder

Faceted Diamond is a verse form that is probably as complicated to read as to write. It is an invented form found at Poetry Base and was invented by American poet Cory S Sylvester. Like the Cleave and the Trigee there are 3 poems in 1 but unlike the others, the reader may need clues to understand how to read the 3.

The elements of the Faceted Diamond are:

1. 3 poems in 15 lines.
2. syllabic, 1-2-3-4-5-6--7-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The even # lines break half way. (Poetry Base suggests the poem could be longer as long as it is an odd number of lines, but I am not going there. You can check with PB if you are curious.)
3. unrhymed.
4. centered on the page.
   
   x
   x -- x
   x x x
   x x -- x x
   x x x x x
   x x x -- x x x
   x x x x x x x
   x x x x -- x x x x
   x x x x x x x
   x x x -- x x x
   x x x x x
   x x -- x x
   x x x
   x -- x
   x
5. The poem can be read in whole and...
6. A second poem can be read by reading the odd numbered lines and the first half of the even numbered lines and ....
7. A third poem can be read by reading the odd numbered lines and the second half of the even numbered lines. All 3 poems should make sense.

Trigee poems can be found on the internet but the description of the genre came from a forum member who encountered it on another poetry forum. It appears to be the same as the Cleave, a nonce verse in which side by side poems merge into one poem.

Alliterative Acrostic Trigee takes the concept of 3 poems in 1 to another level. It was presented as a challenge on a poetry forum. A three in one poem (Trigee), alliterated and the first letter of each line spells a word. Number of lines, meter and rhyme at the discretion of the poet.

                               Titan 

                               Tall tasks talk to me . . . . . . . ten times over I try
                               in tantamount with the tax . . to temper tradition
                               tame and trip thought. . . . . . .tell a timeless tale
                               and tender a tome . . . . . . .. . .testament of truth
                               not terse nor tentative       . . .to be tenable to a tempest
                                                                   ~~Judi Van Gorder

[Tinker]

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