Thursday, April 30, 2020

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 

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

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 -

Thursday, April 23, 2020

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

Sunday, April 19, 2020

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


Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Agony of Hindsight


In the breath strike of invisible contagion recruited
her thoughtless invincible on a Florida beach
where youth defied pandemic with reckless.

Seeding spring with sorry didn’t erase casualties.

Her world changed when she danced with the enemy.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

#napowritmo2020 Day 14
Inspired by #skyloverwordlist - Strike & Real Toads ~ Invisible

Friday, April 10, 2020

Gilded Math



In the dark sky of skin
and revelers of bone
beasts with gold
harvest air to force
the poor to do their bidding.

One potato feeds four,
two will feed a village
in the 1% Society of the Gilded.

When the stock market falls
greed gets anxious, so the bull
stalks “gray hair” for bleeding.

©Susie Clevenger 2020



Thursday, April 9, 2020

Prey(er) Circle



The Holy Sister of Webs
spins her season of prayers
on Spring tree limbs.

Glittered stabilimenta
fool prey into trusting
they’ve entered the eye of god.

©Susie Clevenger 2020

A spider image sent me on a web search (pun intended) and I learned spiders have a sense of design
I love the sound of stabilimenta in the context of my poem. The meaning in my non scientific definition is: a little extra lace to attract. :)

#napowritmo2020 Day 9




Saturday, April 4, 2020

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


Thursday, April 2, 2020

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