Waves roll into shore,
Stirring up cool, white foam,
Then recede back into the ocean
To hit the shore once more.
Stirring up cool, white foam,
Frothing milky white,
Trailing bubbles across the sand.
Then recede back into the ocean,
Like bathwater flowing down the drain,
As sands shift underfoot.
To roll into shore once more,
Rolling, gathering momentum from afar
Impacting the shore with its power.
© Susan Joy Clark 2021
This was written for dVerse’s trimeric poetry challenge. Their page defines the trimeric form this way:
1. Trimeric has 4 stanzas
2. The first stanza has 4 lines
3. The other three stanzas have 3 lines each
4. The first line of each stanza is a refrain of the corresponding line in the first stanza (so 2nd stanza starts with the second line, third stanza starts with the third line, etc.).
5. The sequence of lines, then, is abcd, b – -, c – -, d – -.
Here is a little background behind my creative process for this one. I wasn’t sure of a subject at first, so I thought I’d do my own “photo prompt” and perused unsplash.com for a photo I liked. I selected the ocean pic above. As I thought about it, I realized the form really suited the subject of waves, as the repetitions seemed to suit that in and out feeling.