Between Heartbeats: A Cadralor

Written for dVerse MTB: Imagism In 5.
Our host, Laura, invites us to write a Cadralor.

1.

A single moth thrashes against the porch light,
its wings dusting the glass with gray powder.
The copper screen hums with a low, electric heat.

2.

Frost feathers the edges of a green tomato
forgotten on the vine in November.
The soil underneath turns hard as iron.

3.

An old woman washes a heavy porcelain cup,
her knuckles white against the painted blue pattern.
Steam rises, clouding her kitchen window.

4.

Two crows drop from a high telephone wire,
falling like ink blots into the fog
before the wind takes them over the ridge.

5.

We stand suspended in the space between heartbeats….
you are the porch light, the winter frost, the cup, the crow,
the only thing keeping the dark from closing in.

NAR©2026

Nancy’s Notes: The Cadralor is a compound name from the two inventors, Lori Howe and Christopher Cadra. There are five numbered stanzas with 3-10 lines per stanza (same number of lines throughout). The stanzas stand alone as imagist poems with just the most oblique of connections to each other. The 5^th stanza gathers the previous 4 stanzas into a poem of love and yearning. There is no rhyme or syllabic meter.

This is “Moth To A Flame” by The Weeknd

MTB: Imagism in 5

^{Everything on the elephant trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicate, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}