"Risking Reputations" is a sample of Terrell's invented form, the poetic trinitas.
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What is a trinitas? (in poetry)
A poetic "trinitas" (meaning "three in one") is Terrell's invented form, written to create three distinct but related poems in one. Unlike a cleave or a dialectic, the trinitas liberates both poet and reader with its free verse style. A reader may approach the piece three different ways: first, in a zig-zag manner, scanning back and forth through the stanzas while moving down the page; second, from the top, but reading only the stanzas on the left side of the page; and third, from the top, but reading only the stanzas aligned on the right.
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Brand new in 2022...
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Terrell's book Things Worth Repeating? is written as a poetic trinitas. Readers are offered three ways of reading each page (or, sometimes, a small group of pages) and ultimately the entire book, using the manner described above. A poetic dialogue weaves and stretches through the book from beginning to end.
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One reviewer has said: Samantha Terrell has not so much written to fulfill the needs of a particular form as discovered the only form that can do justice to this exceptional and spellbinding piece of poeticism. Initially I was concerned at having to negotiate the paths of this extended poem, but my hesitation was quickly forgotten as I abseiled down and across her ingeniously worked phrases and images.
- R. Hare |
