Prejudiced Tunnel of Dead Ears

Swallow your wings…

forget the madness of freedom…

the sky will never remember your name.

In the prejudiced tunnel of dead ears

cries for justice are smothered

in the throat press of violence.

We shall overcome sings in tattered notes

as history repeats, and anger lights another match.

How will this end? How will this end when

white is the darkness that measures a soul’s

value by the color of skin.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

Inspired by a Word Crafters Writing Group

Fool's Fruit

Proserpine ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti 

A fool bears the fruit of a heart

sacrificed to the arms of stone.

Promised love I endure his eyes gorging

on the pale skin of another woman’s blush.

Pruned to be a silent rose, I am a wraith

cast out to roam a smothered wail

where nothing grows but sorrow and anger’s thistle.

But my lips reject the dirge humming in my throat.

Must my spirit die in the hope of resurrection?

It was not my mirror that failed his eyes, but his

that hungered for youth he could no longer conquer.

For now, I dress in midnight’s sapphire, a shadow

formed from the dark side of the moon.

When night frees me to roam sunlight’s match,

I will dance on flames that burn him from my dreams.

 ©Susie Clevenger 2020

Inspired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's painting and his sister, 

Christina Georgina Rossetti's poem, After Death

The video is the new release from my friend Samantha Fish.

Poets and Storytellers United - Weekly Scribblings #20

Lies Aren't Dessert

Romancing a lie

curled on venom’s tongue

is like bringing dead flowers

to celebrate birth.

What’s sewn is reaped.

What’s torn is scarred.

Sprinkling sugary apologies on deceit

won’t make deception any less bitter.  

©Susie Clevenger 2020

Poets and Storytellers United ~ Weekly Scribblings #19

Nest of Lungs

Contagion’s nest of lungs

built from hissing tubes

and needles’ plunge was April’s

test of death to see if tears

could still bring flowers to May.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

#napowrimo2020 Day 30

Inspired by: #skyloverwordlist - deaths 

Real Toads - April 2020 - Day 30

Dancing on a Flame

Passion dances on a match strike,

the burn so enticing, no whisper of a scar.

*

Love creates both fools and demons

when bed sheets are its only warmth.

 *

Almost is an eternity when the heart

builds a nest from blindness.

 *

Lust is a summer fruit that withers

when winter's chill snuffs its flame.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

I wrote it as a single poem, but then realized each line could stand alone.

#napowrimo2020 Day 29

Inspired by: #skyloverwordlist - match -

Real Toads - April 2020 - Day 29

Entertaining Devils

Hell is empty and all the devils are here – William Shakespeare

The cunning hell of mutilated truth

ignites airwaves with gaslight candles.

Do not press your ear into a flame

that demands sacrifice so devils can mine gold.

The human heart cannot thrive on selfish gruel

or grow compassion in the drought of bitter tongues.

Test each word before you speak, because once the knife

cuts you will never escape its wound.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

#napowritmo2020 Day 23

Inspired by: #skyloverwordlist

Real Toads - Kerry Says Let's Tip Our Hats to the Bard

Real Toads - April 2020 - Day 23

One Night at a Time

His feet are planted in the blues.

With a whole lot of life in his face,

and scars on his guitar strings

he pours truth into beer bottles

back lighting bar dreams.

You can take a song from the street,

but you can’t take the street out of the music

when notes traffic every alley of pain

through a voice scuffed by tread marks.

In the dim light of bodies chasing escape

he sings solo to a choir too whisky throated

to trust the chorus.

He’s been where they are…He’s left where they’re going.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

The Sunday Muse #104