Cinderella Takes the Helm [E] A triolet set for Stormy with “fascinate, footsteps, inconsistent” |
I don't often review poetry but this one caught my eye as I was flicking through the pages of Read & Review. The sonorous, chantlike quality of it fascinated me. I've always thought that forms like the triolet are excuses to get a longer poem out of very few lines, but now I see that much depends on the quality of the lines and how they reveberate in the mind. This poem succeeds in holding interest where too many fail. The length of the lines is important, each one holding a complete thought that appears fresh and immediate to the reader, while being bound to the other lines by rhymes that are completely natural, yet sing like a ribbon pulling everything together. And all this, using an old and well worn fairy tale as the basis for story. It's really a beautiful little piece. The title gives away the meaning, of course. This is a modern fairy tale in which Cinderella has no need of supernatural help to win the prince and she is, indeed, in full control of events. My one doubt is in the last stanza. Does the triolet require that the last verse be exactly the same as the first? It seems to me to be too much of a good thing, a repetition that would be more effective if altered slightly, perhaps in the order of the lines. And my fear is that it reminds me of my earlier criticism of these "reusable line" forms. It remains a fine poem, however. A truly remarkable demonstration of the form. My review has been submitted for consideration in "Good Deeds Get CASH!" .
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