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Tag: triolet

What You See: triolet

Published on July 11, 2025

What you see is what you get.
Be careful since the eyes can lie –
a simple truth we often can forget:
what you see is what you get,
and once you’ve got it, you’re in debt
to those who’ve shown you what to buy.
What you see is what you get.
Be careful, since the eyes can lie.

You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high,
no sacred balance to preserve.
You may not get what you deserve.
The masters change, the source may swerve,
but we all live, and serve, and die.
You may not get what you deserve.
There is no fair exchange on high.

The only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense
to look for or work through, somehow.
The only time you have is now,
and in this moment is allowed
the brief chance to experience
the only time you have is now.
There is no past or future tense.

11 JUL 2025

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A Single Blink: triolet

Published on June 7, 2017

A moment’s span is very little time;
a single blink and half of it is gone.
Not long enough to make ambition’s climb,
a moment’s span is very little time,
which makes its wasting quite a solemn crime.
On such small pegs, life’s hat is hung upon.
A moment’s span is very little time;
a single blink and half of it is gone.

07 JUN 2017

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The Letter: a triolet

Published on August 17, 2003

The letter informed me I’d won an award
For a poem of great style and merit;
A copy, but “personally” signed by the board,
The letter informed me I’d won an award.
And if their symposium we could afford,
Ten thousand bad writers could share it.
The letter informed me I’d won an award
For a poem of great style and merit.

2002

A recent discussion on the triolet reminded me of a poem I wrote in 2002 after a brief interaction with the folks at The International Library of Poetry

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