Agony of the Moon

Howling moonlight walks the horizon

searching for souls of brave poets

to feed the monochrome night

love is both torture and

ecstatic freedom,

a heart walk through

the how and

why of

war.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Real Toads ~ Fussy Little Forms ~ Nonet

messenger

rain threatens the sky

and i wonder how

long the moon can swim

before it drowns in the

love sonnets pooling

on my lips

alone sits on a windowsill

begging a warm hand

to break the chill…

i fold a verse conjured

from dead poets into

his palm and whisper,

“love stays when you

give it away”

i melt into the shadow of echoes…

there’s no rest in a city of open wounds

©susie clevenger

Real Toads ~ On the Edge of a Starry Night

August Requiem

Outside my window

the sun boils summer

into rotted tea.

I ice cube a prayer

across my brow and

wonder how many

pretty words will survive

the sorrow of dying petals.

Autumn will be a bitter queen

when she learns there are

no brilliant colors to weave into

her crown.

  

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Real Toads ~ Micopoetry

Pray Answers Won't Smell Like Alcohol

Photo: Alexander Krivitskiy

I’m over there in the corner

of a dive bar, quiet tongued

and soul eyed.

I pinch my arm to bruise present

on my skin, but thirty years a go

blinks beneath neon.

Reluctant, terrified, sober as a crucifix,

I walk questions to an empty chair

and pray answers won’t smell like alcohol.

Silence beads little droplets on my skin

until I’m feverish enough to gurgle who

from my throat in a semblance of language.

Frowning she places a finger on my lips

and speaks, Don’t ask…I just came

to learn how I can change my future.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Written from some tough news I recently received. No, it isn't me or my family.

 Real Toads ~ Bits of Inspiration ~ Doppleganger

Too Close to the Edge

The midnight lake puts its lips

to my eyes and drinks every

starlight wish swimming in hazel.

Not satisfied with the brew of visions

it sends watery death into my lungs

to flood my last breath of July.

Thrashing in waves of lost I am tossed

the life preserver of 1:00 am and a cat

purring rescue across my chest.

Shaken I reach for pen and paper

beside my bed and pray my muse

has escaped the drowning pool of empty.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Real Toads ~ The Tuesday Platform

Impugning An Orchid

You thought I was too fragile,

an orchid requiring more

than you were willing to give.

You sat beneath a rain

of jealous opinions and

let them damn me before

you even knew my strength.

Loss only makes you the fool.

I am much wiser now with my heart.

I can breathe in my freedom, while

you whither where I  bloom.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Sanaa gave a selection of word lists at Real Toads to inspire our writing.
I chose the following words: breathe, rain, loss orhcid

Real Toads ~ Get Listed ~ July Edition

Spoiled Tongues Scar Faces

Judgmentals malign sister crow

with whispered gossip

jealous perked in spoiled tea.

She ignores their babble

polluting the wind, and gathers

silhouettes to wallpaper memory.

Spoiled tongues scar faces.

The eye of I is an open window

where what is spoken is always seen.

Beware when attacking a sister,

words carried on feathers

may return in a murder of wings.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Real Toads ~ The Tuesday Platform

Crow image by pngtree.com