Pithy, evocative imagery in three-legged microcosms of meaning.  Having coined the term ‘triologism’ I believe this to be the only collection of these tum-tee-tum phrases in the universe.  Updated Tuesdays … triologism day!  

Crab-green water

I think I can imagine the shade of 'crab-green', a deep dark place where this wily old conger eel escapes...

Crisp-winged flies

A symbiosis of hovering birds and fly-pestered bullocks, the darting martins hoovering up bothersome crisp-winged flies.

'Martins twittered along the...

Wild-looking grass

One of the landscape changes of recent years is the steady return of wild-looking grass where previously there were endless,...

Of princes & kings

The world of Beowulf, courtly kings and striving princes, confronting enemies and monsters to protect their people.  The technical and...

With a laugh

Xiao is the character for laughter, smiles and jokes.  Here it’s combined with the haha sound of laughter to mean...

Hard-won ledge

A sensitive commentary by Seamus Heaney on a poem by Sylvia Plath, 'Mussel Hunter at Rock Harbor'.  He describes:

...

Hunting-obsessed oddball

Reminds me of Simon Schama's vivid description of Goebbels play-acting at being a Grand Seigneur, in his bestellar Landscape and Memory, to...

Brave and courageous

Xiong means ‘male’, ‘grand’, or 'having great power or influence', and is used in the word for ‘hero’.   Here, combined...

Sweet-blooded natures

A description of the Reverend Irwine, whose sisters are elsewhere described as being entirely superfluous.  He is the only person...

Thigh-thick python

A terrifying image, both the ‘slug-white’ and the thigh-thickness of this enormous python.  It curls up into the tree and...

Ocean-grey eyes

A lovely description of a woman's eyes but a woman who has a certain transparence to her, not a particularly...

Demon-king entrance

This sounded like something out of a classical Chinese opera until I realized it was describing my forebears. Don't worry,...

Far-tinkling haze

I am trying to imagine, visually and aurally, a far-tinkling haze.  As a way to distance yourself from any kind...

Twice-baked bread

Paximadia is clearly a Greek name for a traditional Greek bread, but it has a pacific Latin echo in that...

Strip-cartoon dreams

Yes, you can picture a cartoon tramp dreaming of a spit-roasted chicken.  And those six-on-a-spit rotating rotisseries of plump, golden...

1 Comment

  1. B.G. Simons

    Interesting! Your triologisms remind me of the two-word kennings in Beowulf.

    Reply

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