The luck of the Irish often seems to be with me. For that I am grateful. As I was rather more stuck than usual this evening, a fortunate discovery has helped me out. Months ago I was thumbing through a copy of The Shapes of Our Singing by Robin Skelton (which I can’t afford to buy) and came across an entry for the Treochair. This is a Celtic form that incorporates syllabic counts, alliteration and a specific rhyme scheme. It was interesting enough that I made a note in my Field Notes notebook. Tonight, I have again proved it is beneficial to keep a notebook.

I went back to my jottings in the notebook and found a topic I could manage to work into a Treochair. I present it to you now.

My Old Man

This body,
Falling apart it would seem.
The construction feels shoddy.

And this mind,
is mostly meandering, 
melancholy, and maligned.

Then this heart...
Holding onto hopes and dreams,
Is losing his will to start.

This old man-
Makes meaning out of mole hills... 
and moves on without a plan.  

In some ways I have succeeded and in some I have failed with regard to the Treochair form. This is but a general idea and a decent start.

If you have a copy of Robin Skelton’s book you’d like to send my way, I would not refuse it. One more thing… those links, up there ^^^, are to Amazon and I am an affiliate, so I could receive compensation if you were to use them… fair warning.

Cheers!

©2020, Tim Geoghegan, All rights reserved.