Image: Antonio Mora
My mind is an open window,
a free-thinking view of the eye’s appetite
for images translated through ink stained imagination.
©Susie Clevenger 2020
Inspired by poetry prompt @ WordCrafters
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Friday, June 26, 2020
Dreamless Moon
Image: Susie Clevenger
The air is thick with empty.
Windowpanes wink with passing cars,
but no one stops to read my lips anymore.
I live in a burnt candle moon
where arms atrophy
from the loss of touch.
I’m words on a screen, a photograph,
a video wading through pretend trying
to trust I’ll reach flesh and blood.
©Susie Clevenger 2020
Monday, June 22, 2020
The Wolf Howls in Red
I screamed into the wind,
“Give me your worst,
bits of hell
purchased with a liar’s tongue.
The storm is always with me
even when the moon
tangles my hair with dreams.”
of a dead valentine,
a loveless lullaby hummed
through the throat of delirium.
Today is another matchstick
on the bonfire I breathe,
the scar chasing me with
its knife I won’t let cut me.
I will be strong even if I fall.
Every weakness in me will find
its shaman to pulse my spirit
with survival.
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Not for Sale
My eyes aren’t servants
of diamonds nor does
my hand owe allegiance
to glitter.
If you wish to capture my heart,
pour your soul into charity.
I’m not a mannequin
to be gilded with your arrogance.
Saturday, May 30, 2020
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.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
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
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