Five Triolet Poems by Jimmy Pappas

 

 

 

Triolet for the Librarian Who Died in Bed 

 

They told me she died in her sleep; 

They refused to acknowledge her pain. 

The truth was lost with a sweep. 

They told me she died in her sleep. 

They said there's no need to weep; 

It became a constant refrain. 

They told me she died in her sleep; 

They refused to acknowledge her pain. 

 

 

 

 

Triolet for My Kombucha 

 

Three cheers for my Kombucha! 

I love it and that's no bull. 

Does it taste lousy? You betcha! 

Three cheers for my Kombucha! 

If you wanna taste, I'll letcha 

take from mine a hefty swigful. 

Three cheers for my Kombucha! 

I love it and that's no bull. 

 

 

 

 

Triolet for My Father 

 

Now you're cookin' with gas! 

That's what my father used to say. 

No one ever caught him sittin' on his ass. 

Now you're cookin' with gas! 

I still hear him though he has passed, 

Yet he was never all work and no play. 

Now you're cookin' with gas! 

That's what my father used to say. 

 

 

 

 

Triolet for My Old Friends 

 

Some people I want to meet again; 

For now I keep them in my memory. 

I'm waiting with love until then. 

Some people I hope to meet again, 

But I really don't know when. 

I feel sadness thinking of their story. 

Some people I'll never meet again, 

But they'll always be in my memory. 

 

 

 

 

Triolet for Kierkegaard 

 

Kierkegaard says life's learned backwards. 

No wonder our troubles accumulate. 

We never quite find the right words. 

Kierkegaard says life's learned backwards. 

The problem is that we live forwards. 

No one has a solution as of this date. 

Kierkegaard says life's learned backwards. 

No wonder our troubles accumulate.

Jimmy Pappas served in Vietnam during the war training South Vietnamese soldiers by teaching them English so they could work with American helicopter pilots. He won the Rattle Chapbook Contest with Falling off the Empire State Building, won the Rattle Readers Choice Award for “Bobby’s Story,” and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Rattle for “The Gray Man.” He was recently nominated by Naugatuck River Review for a Pushcart as well. He moderates a weekly themed Zoom event called “A Conversation with Jimmy and Friends” that encourages audience participation.