The Women

Though the Borough of Camden has no forest,

when the moon goes dark I hear the call

and my heart feels sad for lack of women.

I unwind myself towards the women.

Like a thread, they pull me to the heart of the forest.

From the elder and hawthorn and birch trees they call.

I shake off the world as they send out their call

and clothe myself in the fire of the women

Together we dance in the deep of the forest.

From the forest they call, the women, the women.

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt is to “write a tritina. The tritina is a shorter cousin to the sestina, involving three, three-line stanzas, and a final concluding line. Three “end words” are used to conclude the lines of each stanza, in a set pattern of ABC, CAB, BCA, and all three end words appear together in the final line.”

The repetition in this poetic form goes well with a movement towards something simpler, wilder, more primal. The first line locates us in the modern urban world. After that, the tritina takes us into a realm more like ballad and myth.

I wrote a second poem today, also a tritina, which you can read here. I wrote two poems because I don’t know if I will have the chance to write one tomorrow. Because I am going to the forest to join the women!