by Ashley Lister

 The Triolet

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

Desire burning in your eyes

My fingers slip between your thighs

And as I listen to your sighs

And feel you dripping from your core

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

The triolet is a one stanza, eight line poem with a
distinctive rhyme scheme of ABaAabAB. Usually it’s written in iambic tetrameter
(in other words, it typically includes eight syllables per line). Note here
that the capital A and B refer to refrains: lines that are repeated later in
the poem.

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

Desire burning in your eyes

My fingers slip between your thighs

And as I listen to your sighs

And feel you dripping from your core

My fingers slip between your thighs

You part your legs and beg for more

A

B

a

A

a

b

A

B

In the above example we can see that the refrain lines are:

My fingers slip between your thighs

and

You part your legs and beg for more

That the poem keeps returning to these lines gives them a
sense of gravitas and importance. This helps to give the triolet a hypnotic
feel that adds to the appeal of this often overlooked form. Note also that the musicality
of the form can help writers to include par rhymes, as with the example below:

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

And promise not to err again

You licked the leather on the whip

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

You swear you didn’t mean to slip

And beg me for your punishment

You kiss the riding crop’s flat tip

And promise not to err again

As always, feel free to post your triolets below.