A Cadralor
In the form of 5 Kimos
I.
traffic grinds to a halt in thunderstorm; driver curses to himself, considers his options
II.
dark smoke visible from over the hill; playing in car seat with phone, youngster's oblivious
III.
directing vehicles around orange traffic cones in his trench coat, policeman braves the rain
IV.
upside down, medium sedan husk burns, original paint color unrecognizable
V.
emergency medical services at scene with sirens blaring, declare no survivors
Cadralor
The cadralor is a poem of 5, unrelated, numbered stanzaic images, each of which can stand alone as a poem, is fewer than 10 lines, and ideally constrains all stanzas to the same number of lines. Imagery is crucial to cadralor: each stanza should be a whole, imagist poem, almost like a scene from a film, or a photograph. The fifth stanza acts as the crucible, alchemically pulling the unrelated stanzas together…
Kimo
The kimo shares much in common with the haiku: it appears in three lines, making it a tristich, with each line following a diminishing pattern:
- Ten syllables
- Seven syllables
- Six syllables
Each of these lines are unrhymed.
The kimo often deals with a static image, a single moment in which there is no movement. Along with its brief nature, this makes it an excellent form to reflect on or celebrate a particular instance.
Let’s write poetry together!
When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)
Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!
The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 
I hope this was not an actual experience. Not that it doesn’t happen all too frequently. (K)
It was based on snippets of experiences, but not the final stanza. Thanks, Kerfe 💟
Didn’t know there are so many types of poems, each with their unique characteristics. Thanks for sharing!
there are tons! I only started exploring them because of exposure to other poets on WP… pretty much within the last year and a half pr so…
❤
David
Really dig today’s poem and especially the form. Thanks for sharing, David.
❤ Thanks, Paul! ❤
-David
I see. I see. Perfect! So cool. xo
❤ Thanks, Selma ❤
Such accidents and incidents are so traumatizing. If I see a scene like this, it haunts me. 🙂
yeah – it’s terrifying, Terveen. I agree.
❤
David
This was chilling 🥶 I actually got surprised when I read the last line, made the tables turn! Nicely written cadralor.
really, Veera? I’m glad, but sorta surprised that you found it surprising… I felt like it was all leading up that. But thank you!
❤
David
Well, I wasn’t expecting that . And btw, how do you use italics in comments? 🙂
Oh wait, I succeeded 🙂 I didn’t think the italics tag would work, but yeah 😀
you need to use HTML tags in the comments around the text you want to italicize
Oh ok 🙂 Thanks!
You’re welcome!
The way you’ve written this reminds me of a storyboard for a film–each stanza is a fully realized scene (like the Cadralor and Kimo descriptions suggest) depicted in little sketched-out blocks. It makes for a longer coherent sequence, “just like in the movies.” Plus, the imagery is intense (the detail of the oblivious youngster playing with a phone in the car seat is brilliant). Nicely done, David. 😉
❤ Mike ❤ – thanks – that particular image was inspired by my daughter – kids really get absorbed into their YouTube videos like you might not even imagine!