1.
Red yarn raucously stretched,
tangled up and down stairs.
Cat spent
chin rests on ball’s remainder,
tail and right paw ensnared.
2.
Snow melts under warming sun.
Water rushes over boulders
carves trail in mountainside.
Carries, tosses rocks and branches
gurgles loudly in rapids below.
3.
Tuk tuks, bicycles, tarp covered trucks, cars.
All jockey in and out as drivers gesticulate.
Heat blazes, smog suffocates.
Traffic lights. Detour signs. No matter.
Throng pushes ever on.
4.
Hurdles placed, runners crouched
starter gun sounds.
Numbered bibs blurr.
Some clear barriers, never look back.
Others fall, lay defeated. Eating dry dust.
5.
Blue tsunami gathering steam.
November third in sight.
Maneuvering through noise
through blustering lies
the race to empathy, truth, democracy.
Written for Meet The Bar at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Laura asks us to write a CADRALAR, a unique poetic form explained below.
Cadralar:
Poem of five numbered stanzas.
Each stanza an imagist poem that can stand alone: a photograph if you will, but seemingly unrelated to the other stanzas, until you read the 5th and final stanza.
Stanzas’ lines should be similar in length.
Final 5th stanza, reveals the thread between the first four stanzas and answers the question, “What do you yearn for?”
Hint: I often find it helpful to go back and read the first four stanzas, after reading the final one!
FYI for those readers not from the US: November 3rd is election day in the US. It is not a presidential election year – that doesn’t come until 2028. But, we do vote for a large number of US congress folks (House of Representatives and the Senate), as well as important state offices including governors and members of state legislatures. If we “flip” Senate and House seats to the Democratic party, it will strip Donald Trump of much of his power and there could even be another impeachment, albeit a successful one in terms of removing him from office. All of these are possibilities. Many in the US, like across the globe, are tired and furious with what the Trump administration has done to the US and its ripple effect on the globe as well. Stay tuned for results on November 3rd.
*Red is the color of the Republican party: the group of sycophants following President Trump’s MAGA agenda.
*Blue is the color of the Democratic party.
Thank you for explaining the 3rd November elections and the colours, Lill, and for sharing an action-packed Cadrallor. I especially love the image of the cat and the snow melting, water rushing and gurgling.
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Know there are many non-Americans reading our dVerse posts so thought the explanations might help. *read the first stanza as the red Republican (a sly cat) who has weaved yarn (lies etc) and now sits on stairs ensnared in them, with low approval ratings around the globe, exhausted. And he must wait to see what happens on Nov. 3. Other stanzas show the hectic rushing, running; those running for office blitzing ads etc.
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Aha!
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the brevity of descriptions really packs out the imagism well Lillian
p.s. you might want to edit #5 to keep the same stanza length you set out with for the Cadralor – you have a different kind of yearning with this one 😉
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UGH!!! Did not see the difference in line length!!! Apologies…will edit last one to 5 lines!
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Such crisp snapshots, Lillian. Thanks for explaining the significance of 3rd Nov elections. All the best.
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Glad you enoyed.
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❤️
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Well I I really liked the key words and concepts in each stanza carrying the verse forward, very, very much, leading us through the lines, starting with the long red yarn, to the water rushing down the boulders, the speeding tuk tuks, detours or not, to the runners … and the big, blue wave rushing in.
Good luck!
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Thanks for your detailed reading here – really appreciate it! YES – hoping for a blue tsunami come November 3rd!
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BRAVO!!!
much love
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Thanks, Gillena! Hope to see you Saturday the 24th at our LIVE session!
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Very cleverly done Lillian and the advice to reread the poem after stanza 5 applies to all the entries to enjoy the depth of thought within. My favourite so far 👍
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Thank you, Shaun. Glad you enjoyed! Hope to see you at our LIVE session on Saturday, October 24th! Link to join will be on Thursday’s prompt.
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It’s always so fascinating to see how a poetic form comes together through crisp, sensory snapshots. It’s always so fascinating to see how a poetic form comes together through crisp, sensory snapshots.
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It really is a fascinating form! Hope to see you at our LIVE session on Saturday, October 24th from 10 to 11 AM New York time. Link will be provided on Thursday’s prompt!
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Your explanations to Kim confirmed the sense I had made of the “obliquely” linked stanzas – the cat and the red wool – particularly brilliant and I wish you all the best of luck in November – No Kings!!!
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No Kings indeed, Andrew! Glad you caught the meaning….and here’s to a blue tsunmai on November 3rd. Our country needs it but so does the world. The havoc this administration has brought is debilitating.
Hope to see you at Satuday’s LIVE session: Oct 24, 10 to 11 AM EST. As usual, link to join will be on Thursday’s prompt.
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Cheers to the Big Blue Wave!!! Really enjoyed your poem, Lillian.
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