Triversen is a form of poetry created by physician, poet, novelist, essayist, and playwright William Carlos Williams. This 18-line poetic form is created from six single stanzas/sentences where each stanza/sentence is broken into three lines.
Rules
- Pick a subject, any subject.
- Write a single stanza that is equal to one sentence and based on a statement or observation.
- Break the sentence/stanza into three lines (each line is a separate phrase in the sentence). Each line should build on the next to create a mood or story.
- There is a variable foot of 2-4 beats per line.
- Repeat steps 1-4 until you have 6 sentences/stanzas.
- Finish with 6 stanzas of three lines each. The poem should add up to 18 lines.
Example
On Gay Wallpaper by William Carlos Willams
The green-blue ground
is ruled with silver lines
to say the sun is shining.
And on this moral sea
of grass or dreams lie flowers
or baskets of desires.
Heaven knows what they are
between cerulean shapes
laid regularly round.
Mat roses and tridentate
leaves of gold
threes, threes and threes.
Three roses and three stems
the basket floating
standing in the horns of blue.
Repeating to the ceiling
to the windows
where the day.
Blows in
the scalloped curtains to
the sound of rain.