Saturday, June 30, 2018

No Place to Hide


Her eyes can kill, or so they say.
There’s nowhere to hide when her
green eyes collide with secrets
before they can pool on the tongue.

It doesn’t matter how deep in your bones
you bury what shouldn’t be known, Trysis
can see what shouldn’t be sung.

A needle for pain, a knife for lost.
Ponder what you will…Prepare for the cost.

An eye for an eye…She’ll always win.
There’s no shield for where, no protection from when.

©Susie Clevenger 2018



Trysis is a fictional name I conjured from the prompt. :)


Saturday, June 23, 2018

The Valley of the Sky


Leave by the same door
you tore from hinges,
spill rumor, feed snakes.

My life is not yours to barter,
nor is it yours to take.

It doesn’t matter how close
you dance me to the cliff,
blood will never clip my wings.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Friday, June 22, 2018

Moon Straw



Let me drink hope from your lips,
taste life while it still drinks
romance through a moon straw.

Optimism hangs on a crucifix
of barbed tongues while devils sing
the what about -isms of another’s evil.

If night must rage, let its rage escape
along my skin…Let me breathe resurrection
before I succumb to ashes.

©Susie Clevenger 2018


Saturday, June 9, 2018

Shallow End of Caffeine


“Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.” Anthony Bourdain


This chipped coffee cup
was your favorite.
You liked its imperfections,
its history, broken pieces
glued by conversations..
life.. humanity.. miles.

You’d grin…Lift your cup
and joke it was impossible to break
something that couldn’t be fixed.

Hindsight is a blunt companion.

I swam the shallow end
of caffeine unaware
I was watching you drown.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Friday 55 ~ 6/8/18

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

The I of the Storm


I storm through May
with prayers howling
across my tongue.

There are few answers
to my questions, little solace
in climbing agony.

Weak, but rooted in dandelions,
I gather every seed of resurrection
to lift me out of darkness.

I mortar another brick
on the wall of hope
wondering why rocks crumble
in silent wails.


 ©Susie Clevenger 2018

The dandelion represents healing and the ability to rise above life's challenges. 
My daughter, Dawn, definitely possesses the dandelion spirit to thrive in adversity.