"For Everything There is a Season"
dVerse - MTB: Imagism in 5
The Cadralor
Not a form I am familiar with, the Cadralor is an invented form named for its inventors, Lori Howe and Christopher Cadra.
* 5 numbered stanzas
* choose 3-10 lines per stanza (but keep same chosen stanza length throughout)
* each stanza stands alone as an imagist poem (just the obliquest of connections)
* 5th stanza pulls the 4 unrelated stanzas together into a poem of love, of yearning
* rhymes and syllabic meter are NOT wanted
I
I don’t go to the far back of my yard anymore.
It’s dead; the grass, onions, parsley, gone.
I let it die; its prior beauty gone, now crunchy underfoot,
II
The wind blew over the fence, such as it was.
I left it there, nothing to fence in, or out, except
the persistent raccoons that straddle the top boards at dawn.
III
Geese honk overhead on their way south,
the stragglers louder as they strive to catch up
to the lopsided Vs of their fellow migrants.
IV
Autumn leaves drift down, carpeting the roadways,
flying up again as cars speed by.
Up and down, up and down, caught in a whirlwind of exhaust.
V
As our winter approaches, will we wish
to rewind time? Return to spring to start afresh,
or accept this as our lot assigned?
©2026 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
The imagery in each stanza of letting things be as they are hints at an acceptance of loss but the last stanza hints at hope. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteWe waste our time with wishing. Let's step forward. Nicely done Lisa 👏
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed all the sounds in your cadralor, Lisa, the crunch, wind blowing, geese honking and the whirlwind of exhaust. You’ve also captured autumnal decay.
ReplyDeletethe statement like stanzas underpin the starkness so well - I like how you left the yearning in #5 as a question
ReplyDeleteThey say only a fool wishes to be young again, but I admit to the odd foolish thought...
ReplyDeleteEach year as Autumn fades into wintry cold I make a vow to "embrace winter" ~~~ and usually succeed. [ well, there was 2016 and our Snomageddon ] Life is short, no point in making unattainable wishes. I enjoyed reading your Cadralor!!! Cheers.
ReplyDelete