Author: sgeoil

When Storms Subside

worms tunnel safe
beneath the ground
consuming decay

the rain bounces 
pit, pat, pit, pat
ground level splat

like drums calling
danger, danger
-unknown alarm

worms wiggle 
towards the light
from unknown harm

lightning strikes blind -
when storms subside
there's no place to hide

©Heather Carr-Rowe
The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 205 is given to us by the multi-talented Marion Horton. 

Prompt: With spring flowers pushing up along the verges, it’s easy to forget how long they lay buried in darkness as bulbs. That contrast draws my attention to what remains unseen—what lies beneath, whether in the soil or within ourselves.

For this prompt, I invite you to explore the theme: Beneath the Surface.

NaPoWriMo Day 4: We’d like to challenge you to craft your own short poem that involves a weather phenomenon and some aspect of the season. Try using rhyme and keeping your lines of roughly even length.

The Cartographer

her hands work with precision 
line up the grids - north, south, east, west
all to scale
legend has it-
you'd think she'd find the way
following the compass rose
on the map in the glovebox
-but out there under the endless blue horizon
and fields so flat the rocks don't roll
she's lost, lost without
-landmarks - 
just tell her to hang a right at old Sam's place
then look for the cherry tree that lights up pink with the May sunshine
then take a left by the red barn that burned down twenty years before
-charcoal remains now-
then, just travel a tick - and she'll see the old school house sign
-hang a left
watch for the dip into the valley and spy the brook that babbles
and she'll have made it


©Heather Carr-Rowe

NaPoWriMo Day 3 – write a poem in which a profession or vocation is described differently than it typically is considered to be. Perhaps your poem will feature a very relaxed brain surgeon, or a farmer that hates vegetables.

Standing By the Tree

skyward
crystal fog lingers
atmospheric - feathers bristle
mine and theirs
honk, a honk, honk - echoes silence
v swallowed by lightless void
pre-dawn

©Heather Carr-Rowe
The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 204 is given to us by the multi-talented Lesley Scoble. 

Lesley asks us to write a Cameo poem—a tiny, distilled moment—on any theme you choose.

Form
7 lines;
Syllable count: 2 / 5 / 8 / 3 / 8 / 7 / 2;
Imagery is essential;
Minimalism is encouraged

.

When the Seas are Rough

there is that lighthouse that shines
when the storm waves crash,
not the traditional yellow beacon
seen on the eastern shore of Nova Scotia
or the wild west coast
steering me from the rocky outcrops,
rather, it comes in a pair of eyes
brown, soulful, always expressive
a little murky now with age,
but there all the same-
they penetrate my heart,
lift my soul when the days
feel like sandpaper,
silent as a whisper
-it'll be okay- 
and you know
you just know,
that she sees the same in me.

©Heather Carr-Rowe
The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 203 is given to us by Dennis Johnstone. 

Write a poem in which the speaker is a lighthouse guiding something away from danger, toward safety, or both. 
Guidelines:
20–25 lines maximum
Choose a form that suits the subject
Build the lighthouse through concrete images, actions, and sensory detail rather than abstract statements
As you write, ask yourself: What does your light reveal, warn against, or guide toward?

Snowfall

branched crystals
as light as meringue,
twirl, down, down
~linen fresh~
a quilted sweetness across
the slumbering earth

©Heather Carr-Rowe
The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 202 is given to us by Nancy Richy. 

Nancy asks us to write a Shardoma.  
The shadorma is a compact Spanish syllabic form built from a six-line stanza with a strict syllable pattern: 3 / 5 / 3 / 3 / 7 / 5 (26 syllables total). It is typically unrhymed.

Write a close-up study of a single inanimate object or a very specific moment. Think small and focused rather than narrative or expansive. The power of the poem should come from sensory observation—what can be seen, heard, touched, smelled, or felt.

I chose to write about standing in the silence of a snowstorm before dawn, just the other day.

Didn’t See It Coming

All my friends were starting to do it
do it...
strapping a slender stick on each foot
each foot
that pointed primarily down hill
down hill
beginner, knees wobbly, slip sliding
ding
dong - what have I done?!- at the earliest I'm out of control 
troll
like tick tock all a tumble, heart beats boom
boom
crash! Poor lady -startled- didn't see
see 
it coming at all
at all!

©Heather Carr-Rowe
For this week’s W3 #201, our Poet of the Week and challenge host O'Nika McGill, challenged us to write an Echo Poem:

Echo Verse has one simple rule: Repeat the end syllable(s) of each line.

There are two ways to do this:

Repeat the ending syllable(s) at the end of the same line;
Repeat the ending syllable(s) on its own line directly beneath each line.

Write an echo poem about a first — first anything that mattered.
Show us how you felt — excited, embarrassed, afraid, proud, uncertain.
Include at least one variation of one of these words:
Early (earlier, earliest)
Begin (beginning, began, begun, begins)
Primary (primarily, primaries)
Start (start, started, starting, starts)

Blest

Nov. 2025
I think - sacred
-wondrous galaxies appear,  vibrant - yet
quietly promising opulence -
behold unearthed curiosity 
-momentus-
zenith reigns, delights...
ever knowing love's xenial hours
-forever-
just blest

©Heather Carr-Rowe

The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 200 is given to us by Christine. We are asked to write  an alphabet poem. I chose option 1.

Option 1 — 26 words, A–Z once each (Any order)

Option 2 – a 26 line poem where the first word of each line begins with the next letter of the alphabet in order, a thru z.

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