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