Something's in the Air

He likes his wild tamed

with fist and tongue

broken bone and hope unstrung.

But when vixens smell

fear in the air, they hunt

the beast who rules the lair.

The wicked of whim

will meet his end

when foxes strike

to free the hen.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

The Sunday Muse #102

Shards and Threads

“I do not know myself sometimes, or how to measure and name and count out the grains that make me what I am.” ― Virginia Woolf, The Waves

I am my unknown,

an hour vacillating

between memories

and chasing minutes.

When I think I have

the mountaintop in sight,

I blink to find myself

roaming a cactus valley.

Are scars lessons learned

or the armor of survival?

Shards and threads are mute,

but I press them for answers.

Where are you in the empty streets?

I’m a thousand impulses

searching for direction.

I can’t decide if I’m lost or unfamiliar with freedom.

 ©Susie Clevenger 2020

napowrimo2020

Real Toads ~ April 2020 Day 2

Already Lived Through a Prophecy

You have to walk

before you can climb.

I’m eighty years ahead

of the times.

I know how to make more

out of less, turn blue into yellow

when the sun is boiled gray.  

Money men have been painting

their businesses fresh faced

while pushing wrinkles out the door.

Now, with hell on their heels,

and a drain on their dimes

they want to sacrifice elders

so capitalism won’t die.

I’ve been to the edge, got caught in the fall,

learned how to lead when dust fought with wind.

If you want my help, sit down and listen.

Wash and repeat won’t get you any further than you are.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

The Sunday Muse #101

The Hormonal Political

She balked at mansplain.

spoke out against testosterone

interruptions to demean,

to flex superiority, to use

Eden rhetoric to shame

into silence.

She was warned to not

attempt to step out of her place.

We men have the numbers,

the power, the knowledge,

to lead without hysterics,

make decisions without emotions

clouding the black and white.

She was given an explanation,

the same explanation, tired explanation

of kitchen and follow, apron string politics.

Nevertheless she persisted

Gentlemen, (ironic) Do histories,

centuries of war prove

death is the way to the top?

I come to the desk having researched,

questioned, walked the sidewalk for answers,

sat with agree and disagree to find resolutions

while you have huddled in your nest

of must have your way to birth repetition.

 ©Susie Clevenger 2020

 Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #12

The Welcome Mat Lays Muted

“Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.”

Lennon-McCartney

My picture-perfect door doesn’t welcome.

The wizard’s gone vile and wicked enlists

the breath of my neighbors for war

without their consent.

We are an oddity of enemies

who want to touch, but are

divided by glass so we can’t reach.

From my zoo cage of pictured walls

 holding close to what I need to let go,

I watch birds sitting on my fence chirping,

“Now humans know how it feels to lose their wings.”

©Susie Clevenger 2020

The Sunday Muse #100

Poetry is my journal. Welcome to my roller coaster. 

Slices of Rot

Licorice skin apples

hang from the tongue

waiting for gossip

to take its first bite.

Sisters of acid and brothers of blight

troll lips to see which are the most

susceptible to twist what is into what is not.

Night has its purpose…Light has its sin.

Truth has no rescue where lies learn to swim.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

The Sunday Muse #99

Depends On Who Wears the Zipper

Searchin’ for a pill,

dyin’ from a bottle,

things are lookin’ up

cause a clown’s

servin’ Kool aid.

Cat wants my tongue,

lies want my allegiance,

slippin’ through curves

cause men don’t

like my pretty.

When push comes to shove,

I won’t follow… If I was a man,

I would be less of a bitch. 

©Susie Clevenger 2020

February 2020 ~ Friday 55 Flash Fiction