I created both of these poems from the same word list.
I wasn't sure I liked the first one
so I decided to make an attempt at another one.
I couldn't decide which to post so I just posted both of them.
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Not Every Quote in the Throat
Some would like their claws in my jaws,
pour sour lemons in my tea to see
if I can hold on to every blue note I sing.
So many times, the rhymes hit a target
too close to truth and they want to turn loose
their anger on me because I found the music.
Not every quote in the throat is made to sugar
a day into a peppermint experiment of mindless escape,
but if a listener stays long enough to hear it becomes clear
we’re both hanging from a rope trying to cope
and it’s often a song that unites instead of divides us.
©Susie Clevenger 2024
South Texas Can’t Sugar Tea a Snowman
Christmas feels more like
a month of summer than
snowflakes on a windowsill.
South Texas doesn’t like
to give up its heat, or lead
a hand to a cup of hot cocoa
teased with peppermint.
Walking down a Houston street
in December is muggy July jazz
dressed in a t-shirt trying
to convince the body it’s a sweater.
We Texans like a lot of sugar in our tea,
insult it with a slice of lemon, and
dance around bigger is better.
But we get a bit jealous that
the only time it feels cold enough
to build a snowman is when
we pull ice cream out of the freezer.
©Susie Clevenger 2024
Oh Susie, these are great! Simply because I know that you will enjoy being disobedient, I hereby announce a 1 poem limit on every List! Now, go and break that rule all you want and feel good about it, because I am happy to read as many of your poems as you care to share! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe first poem (rhyming, no less! garsh!) reminds me of why I will always prefer Janis Joplin over Diana Krall. Like a good poem, good music reminds us of our shared experience and common humanity.
Your second poem takes me right back to San Antonio, where Christmas was just as often tee short weather as jacket weather. And snow? it never dropped a single flake in the 6 years I was there, though they had a huge snowstorm the year after I left. It all melted
the next day though, from what I read.
So glad you're writing, and such kick-ass stuff too!
I love both! The imagery and feelings running deep and are full of insight and emotion. It is hard to pick a favourite line - they are all so musical - Jae
ReplyDeleteSusie, both poems are great. It amazes me that you have warmth and are wearing a t-shirt in December. Wow. I'm with Shay - so glad you are writing, and so brilliantly.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed both of them, but since I live in a snowy state, I was struck by the second poem and your description of Texas Decembers. It doesn't sound bad to me, but I would not want to experience Texas summers!
ReplyDelete#1, if the blues tells us anything, its a room hanging from a rope and swinging to its badass sweet smoke ... #2, as a Floridian, I wonder if our imagination gets stronger weathering subtropic Christmas in the subtropics ... sugary insults are more the Texan swing of it, where in Florida its mostly a sugary desuetude ... Either way, we poetic snowballs in Hell still know how to stick our elbow into it. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI love them both, Susie, singing the blues with "the quote in the throat," as well as a South Texas Christmas, snowless but thirsty for sweetened iced tea. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteGlad you posted them both--each one is a gem and has a completely different poetic load. I find the first extremely honest and clear, full of cutting language and internal rhyme, while the second is very relatable to me, our snows here being few and far between and almost never in December, and while it isn't Houston summer, it has that misplaced seasonal vibe always, and is a ride on a perpetual unsettled climatic roller coaster. Ice cream, however, always helps. Great to read you, Susie.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Thank you! You made magic with words today .. twice for the price of one entry. You are talented, Ms. Susie.
ReplyDeleteI love both your poems, Susie, but especially the first one. Just all its no-nonsense wordplay won me over, it sounded like an incantation. I love these lines:
ReplyDelete"Not every quote in the throat is made to sugar
a day into a peppermint experiment"
and the simple truth that a single song can unite us 🩷
First some lemon, then some sweetener. Two poems make for the most excellent tea!
ReplyDelete