Author: sgeoil

Spirograph World

The Swan, No. 10, Group IX-SUW (1915)
thought without body
without edges
-life spirals-
through darkness
through light
a mathematical roulette
bouncing 
embedded code
from one to the other
-life is love-
in a spirographical world

©Heather Carr-Rowe
The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 209 is given to us by Yvette M. Calleiro. With so much chaos in the world, Yvette asks us to step away from reality and imagine something entirely new. Create a poem that explores a fictional world—utopian or dystopian, your choice. This world must be wholly imagined and not reflect the current reality we live in. Let your imagination run freely.

Requirements
-Use 20 lines or fewer.
-Write about a fictional utopian or dystopian world.
-Do not portray the current state of our world in your poem.

Not sure I met the requirements of a world-utopian or dystopian. It’s fairly removed from my wheelhouse, but I am intrigued by the work of Hilma af Klint an abstract artist. This led me to write an ekphrastic poem of painting No. 10 in her Swan Series. You can read more about her and her work here.

Ars Poetica (the art of poetry)

spend time in observation
of this and that and communication

jot down a sultry word
none of this is absurd

take long walks, speak to a tree
let your toes touch the sea

make up a rhyme
string some words until they chime

just let yourself feel
it's in your house-wheel

and when your heart gropes with the dark
release the tension with a mark

keep a notebook handy
let the words spill forth, all will be dandy

for poetry is heart in motion
breath in-breathe out your devotion

and when your pen feels a drought
gather your senses all about

for poetry is in all you do
just let the magic come from you

©Heather Carr-Rowe

NaPoWriMo – Day 26 – we challenge you to write your own ars poetica, giving the reader some insight into what keeps you writing poetry, or what you think poetry should do.

The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 208 is given to us by Nancy Richy
We are asked to: 
Write a poem in rhyming couplets (two lines that rhyme) that gives instructions for making something.

Traditionally, “rhyming recipes” were used to help people remember how to prepare food. Your poem does not have to be about food. You can write a “recipe” for anything.

Requirements:

Use rhyming couplets throughout
Give clear steps or instructions
Be creative with what your “recipe” is for
Think of it as turning instructions into something memorable and playful through rhyme.

What About My Name?

a name seems simple enough
letters printed together
sounded out until pronounced

some lyrical on the tongue
others gravelly and harsh
stuck in the back of the throat

chosen at birth
they become us
or do we become them?

some remain steadfast
others shortened
or changed

I've been called - Heater, I've been called - Leather
and my French friends call me 'edder
and my mother called me all my siblings names...

regardless-
my name, carefully chosen
began in a place of love

©Heather Carr-Rowe

NaPoWriMo 2026 – Day 21 – In your poem for today, we challenge you to write your own poem in which you muse on your name and nicknames you’ve been given or, if you like, the name and nicknames for an animal, plant, or place. 

Day’s Eye

if I were to speak in Old English
I'd speak of the Day's Eye
pure love and new beginnings
like waving flags 
beneath blue upon blue sky
-oh, those longed for days of summer-
her yellow eye smiles
in a way
to warm hearts and laugh
upon the fields so verdant
it makes me cry

©Heather Carr-Rowe

The Skeptic’s Kaddish, W3 Prompt # 207 is given to us by Sally

I invite you to spend some time with the poets who stay with you—the ones who shape how we read, write, and see. Choose one or more of the following:

  1. Write a poem in honor of, or with a nod to, another poet. 
  2. Borrow a single line from a favorite poet and weave it into your poem.
  3. Try writing in the style of a poet 
 I wrote this poem to honour Mary Oliver whose poetry inspires me to pay attention to the world around me. 

Day's Eye - Old English for Daisy

NaPoWriMo 2026: Day 19 – The word florilegium refers to a book of botanical illustrations of decorative plants and also a collection of excerpts from other writings.  In her poem, “Florilegium,” Canadian poet Sylvia Legris gathers together many five-lined stanzas that describe flowers but also play with the sounds of their names, their medical (or poisonous) qualities, and historical aspects of herbalism. Today, pick a flower or two (or a whole bouquet, if you like) from this online edition of Kate Greenaway’s Language of Flowers. Now, write your own poem in which you muse on your selections’ names and meanings. If you’re so inclined, you could even do some outside research into your flowers, and incorporate facts that you learn into your work.

Be Like The Bee

She greets the sunrise
with dew beneath her wings
buzzes by
as if whistling a happy tune.
She flits from flower to flower
as if saying hello,
how are you today?
-she stays just long enough
gathering sweetness
and giving some too.

Just like the bee
I want to greet the day
and the people I meet
with a spring in my step,
and a smile whispering good day-

©Heather Carr-Rowe

NaPoWriMo 2026 - Day 16  Today, try writing a poem in which you describe something that cannot speak, and what it has taught or told you.

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?

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