Tricube Verse Form

If you thought Haiku were easy, let me introduce you to the Tricube. It’s not shorter than a Haiku, the Haiku being 17 syllables and the Tricube being 27, but it’s way more fun. This form was first introduced by the American poet, Phillip Larrea. You can find him on Facebook, and his books of poetry on Amazon.

Anyway . . . in mathematical terms, the Tricube is 3 x 3 x 3. In the author’s own words: I created this form to limit myself, primarily. I allow myself three stanzas, three lines per stanza and three syllables per line to get it done, so three ‘cubed’.

Here are the rules of the Tricube to follow:
Each tricube is made of three stanzas.
Each stanza has three lines.
Each line has three syllables.

There are no rules for rhyme, meter, or subject matter and you don’t even have to use punctuation if you don’t want to. Just three, three, and three. That’s all there is to it. You can’t get much easier than that, right?

That being said, I have seen Tricubes made with three 1-syllable words in each line; two 1-syllable words and one 2-syllable word; and Mr. Larrea himself has written them using a single 3-syllable word in a line:

TriCube
by Phillip Larrea

Don’t swallow
the whole pie.
Just a bite.

Platitudes
amplified—
Certitude.

What is left
is not right.
But remains.

Have fun with this form by putting your own spin on it – try making it rhyme, start every line with the same letter or word, or end each verse with the same word. Use single syllable words, or a combination – like I did. Go ahead, give it a try!


Strawberry Picking

the field seems
to stretch out
forever

row upon
row of sweet
strawberries

just waiting
for someone
to pick them



Words

it is hard
to use just
one word at

a time when
I want to
use them all

but I write
them one by
one by one