why write?

I have to write what I hear in my head, what I dream in my sleep, what my bones ache to express.

My poems tell stories of strength, love, regret, disobedience, loss, hope, redemption, and whatever whispers.

—Cindy B. Stevens

Books Available

My first collection of poetry, Naked, is available for $12.00 at http://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/naked-cindy-stevens/


For local readers, books are also available at:

Purple Crow Books in Hillsborough, NC

The Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC



30 June 2019

my upstairs window


I’ve said it before, I don’t write many sweet poems, but I’ll share a few lines from one of them, called “my upstairs window”:


I watch a faerie dance from my upstairs window

they twirl heavenward

then curtsey

at my feet

© Cindy B. Stevens
28 April 2018


#Faerie #Dance #Twirl #Curtsey

Photo credit:  johannes-plenio-558128-unsplash

24 June 2019

sparks


Today, I’ll share two stanzas from “sparks”:

air floats jazz
Sheila wants it to seduce her
make her forget why she shouldn’t have
another
glass of wine

she wants Randall back
she misses his caresses
his sweet
wild
love

© 23 March 2019
Cindy B. Stevens


#Seduce #Caress #Passion#Wild #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WriterLife #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing

Photo credit:  clem-onojeghuo-175917-unsplash

18 June 2019

Today is my wedding anniversary, so, I’ll share five lines from “your convert”, a poem of passion:



my fountain paints it’s frigid fingers

my spine vibrates tarnish

you heat paint my skin

I thieve your fire

I’m your convert

© 3 November 2018
Cindy B. Stevens


#Convert #Heat #Breath#Fire #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WriterLife #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing

Photo credit:  ahmad-odeh-460173-unsplash

12 June 2019

leaving Saxapahaw: the fifth stanza

I’m a singer.  I love to sing good lyrics.  Monday through Thursday, on my way to work, I sing.

I listen closely to lyrics.  The first time I heard my friend, Brian Hershberger, sing “Stolen Car” (Bruce Springsteen), I thought this song’s not just about driving a stolen car.

I ride in a stolen car.  Sometimes I think I drive that stolen car, but I don’t.

A song I’m currently obsessed with is Jason Isbell’s “Traveling Alone”, which speaks to me on a bone marrow level.  I’ve been singing it for about 2 weeks to and from work, on the weekends, it seems to always be in my head; I think Richard is going crazy hearing it.  Constantly.  Oh well.  For better.  For worse.  Right?


I don’t usually post twice in a day, but since I seem to be on a leaving subject, there’s a poem for my next book that I’ve titled “leaving Saxapahaw”.  Here’s the fifth stanza.

leaving Saxapahaw:  the fifth stanza

I ask Everett to warm up my green 1967 Valiant
he loads my luggage and record collection in the trunk
I push the radio buttons and drive past raspberry brambles
my bobble head collection nods in the rear window
roadside weeds wave their farewell fronds
my mules watch me abandon Everett and our dirt
it’s not easy to leave

© Cindy B. Stevens
8 October 2017

#leave #bramble #bobble #abandon #luggage #record #dirt #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

Photo credit:  lucy-arbuthnot-1339032-unsplash

my revival

I hope this makes you wonder what #kitchen is at the end of this share.  That word is found in my complete poem, although I’m not sure “my revival” is finished. Here are a few lines:


rain wakes me

washes desire from my dreams

where I left a man on the sidewalk

I slipped

unnoticed

through the crowd

© 2 March 2019
Cindy B. Stevens


#Desire #Rain #Crowd#Kitchen #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WriterLife #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing

Photo credit:  nicolai-berntsen-8741-unsplash

06 June 2019

every six days

Have you ever heard the phrase “guilty as sin”?  Here are a few lines of my poem:


every six days

I dream I break the window

is everything I do confessional?

who is this sin I’m guilty as?

© 5 April 2019
Cindy B. Stevens


#Sin #Guilty #Guilt#Break #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WriterLife #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing

Photo credit:  simson-petrol-1154885-unsplash