Quiet,
softly falling snowflakes cover
the fields, create a wonderland of
sparkling white, sound absent as
a blanket over your head, the
countryside transformed, then
red
the shocking plume of a
cardinal against the snow and
he takes flight through
falling stars so
silent

Copyright ©2025 Lisa Paul

Created for Wea’ve Written Weekly, Jaideep’s is the host. His prompt guidelines:

1. Write a poem that starts and ends in silence.
   • The first and last lines should directly evoke or describe silence.
   • It could be the literal word silence, or imagery that suggests quietness, stillness, or absence of sound.
   • The point is to frame the whole poem between two moments of silence.
2. Use enjambment to sound like a heartbeat.
   • Enjambment means carrying a sentence or phrase over from one line to the next without a pause.
   • The short, broken flow can mimic a heartbeat: steady, pulsing, slightly uneven.
   • Think of each line as a “beat” that pushes into the next one.
3. Keep it to 12 lines, like 12 heartbeats.
   • The entire poem is only 12 lines long.
   • Each line equals one “pulse,” so the poem itself becomes a heartbeat sequence.
   • The brevity forces intensity and rhythm.
4. At least once, use a one-word line that makes the reader pause.
   • Somewhere in the poem, have a line with only one word.
   • This acts like a pause or a sudden strong beat in the rhythm, making the reader stop and notice.
   • That single word should carry weight—emotionally, visually, or sonically.