So Many Plumes in My Portfolio

 Oh, I do love to dress in pink and black,

a tabby witch who has crows and flamingos as familiars.

There’s so many plumes in my portfolio no disconnected

shaman can figure out which part of me holds the reason

I need his sage to drive out my impertinence.

When you’re born female, you’re stalked with you must,

you can’t, you should, you shouldn’t…My skin is much

thicker than the apple peel placed between my teeth.

Silly man, you made me who I am…If you don’t like the view,

you shouldn’t have opened the window. 

©Susie Clevenger 2024

Word Garden Word List ~ Poetry Outloud

Insanity Is a Parking Lot

I roam like a withered cloud,

the white foam of cotton

against blue long gone.

Why isn’t there comfort in madness?

My mind builds a memorial for every demon

that has left its footprint on my chest.

There is no ink in dead flowers, yet I chase

their petals trying to find enough color

to fill a single thought. 

Is sanity a stroke of luck or a creature

some can tame while others are cursed 

with feral.

I wish unfinished would leave bread crumbs

so my brain could be tricked into believing

life had a map.

Insanity is a parking lot where I watch

everyone escape, but me.

Susie Clevenger 2024

Word Garden Word List ~ William Wordsworth