Overheard

Overheard
Malicious whispers
Between two
Co-workers
My heart grew cold at their words
Squeezing in my chest

Breathing stopped
Blackness obscured sight
My fists clenched
And unclenched
Thoughts swirled like a tornado
Unholy and wild

Office chair
Calmed me in this storm
I held on
Took a breath
Straightened my back and went out
“I heard what you said”

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This is my response to this week’s W³ challenge: to write shadorma poems.

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, and a poem may consist of a single stanza or a series of stanzas.

For this challenge, the theme is Sensory Details.

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.

Yes, this actually happened. It was a specific moment and I tried to write the sensory details of it.