Pilling (If only Risperidone was a Greek Goddess)

I woke this morning

with lemons on my tongue

and groans gurgling

in the pit of my brain.

How I wish I could remain

in sleep’s nightmare that

doesn’t require a pill

to keep me on the fringe

of normal.

My warden rests on its glass shelf

demanding I open the lid of my cage

and swallow the chain to hold

me to chemical sanity.

I argue the cinnamon elocution

of tempered mania robs me

of artistry, but the order of things

requires I swim with the tide.

Rebellion waits at Nyx-door

like the sheathed claws of a cat

waiting to shred perceptions

wild things can ever be tamed.

©Susie Clevenger 2019

A delicious list of words provided for poetic inspiration:

onyx,  groan, lemon, sticks, elocution, shelves, cinnamon, Twix, risperidone,

Nyx-door, warden, plunge, esthesis

Real Toads ~ Get Listed With a Mystery Guest

Woke Up Change

Photograph: Sarolta Ban

Oh, don’t play that song,

a bluesy never grow tune.

My roots are deep, earthy bold.

I’ve sung duets with eternity,

written music with stardust.

I can grow a family from a seed,

hold communion with wild things,

stitch a quilt with sun thread and dry leaves.

You thought I would die because you cut me,

surrender to dust because you burned me,

but all you did was wake up change.

I’ll be life when you are empty,

breath when you can’t breathe,

grow when you’re dying in your words.

©Susie Clevenger 2019

The Sunday Muse #81

Crisp Counsel

Autumn Breath

Jason Limberg

Used With Permission

Moon blood and urges

is the tea to create enemies.

In the cold season of heat

nothing matters but winning.

Be warned… Kinship won’t

keep me from bringing war.

©Susie Clevenger 2019

Real Toads ~ Art Flash/55 in November