Mushroom of Gossip

She’s a storyteller,

a woman in white,

cage of black, spilling

my mad love into the ear

of the giver of stars.

A god, damning

me for the moments

at midnight, judging

my weakness by narrow

verse, she hangs me on

opinion’s tongue forgetting

I only grow stronger in affliction. 

Starlight tests the mushroom of gossip,

sifts through foul soil of its roots,

and finds the gaslight it feeds on.

A storyteller, who would be god,

discovers the shadow words

she hoped to crucify me with

are now the cage she must survive. 

©Susie Clevenger 2023

I was looking at my bookshelf, and found these five books stacked exactly as you see them. They are th inspiration for this poem. 

 

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

What Lies Are For

You know what lies are for.

They dig graves in eyes and tongues

to bury trust in plain view.

They are spoon fed until

their poison tastes like sugar coat.

A rat boiled in honey tastes sweet.

Weary them…Weary them…

until the body can’t protest,

and voices drown in the noise.

Freedom no longer has a Wikipedia page

or a definition in Webster…

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

You know what lies are for.

They dig graves in eyes and tongues

so weary can’t transform outrage into resist.

©Susie Clevenger 2018

Real Toads ~ The Tuesday Platform