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



25 June 2021

little thing



Maybe there’ll be more to “little thing”, maybe not:

 

a little thing and a

 

little thing and another little

 

thing

 

don’t always make a big thing

sometimes they only make several

little things

 

© 24 June 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

 

#MicroPoetry #Art #ArtlixirPoetry #DarkPoetry #IGPoetry #IGPoets #InstaPoetry #Life #LovePoetry #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryGram #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #PoetsOfInstagram #SpilledInk #VeinHeartArtisans #Wordsmith #Writer #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

Photo credit:  justin-arkinson-VdfEvjjioIA-unsplash

19 June 2021

praying for drought

In October 2019, I shared the first and last stanzas from “praying for drought”.  It was published this year in the Heron Clan VIII anthology and I’d like to share the whole poem:


praying for drought 

I don’t think god cared I kept my absent parent fears locked
inside my diary
hidden in my closet, because
god didn’t speak up
and rain came
most every afternoon
it tried to drown my ivy

I don’t remember when the rain started
was there thunder
lightning
hail?  I didn’t know I could pray for drought
I didn’t really know how to pray
how to shield my juvenile leaves
keep my baby roots from water suffocation

so I rooted
my nodes
beside my bed
most every night
asked god to stop that rain

my light ignored
my soil
compost
my drainage not enough and
why did it still rain most every afternoon?

I tried to get close to god
tried to crawl inside the god mind
I wanted to know
why there was no deliverance from this rain
and why did my leaves wilt
why did my roots still
inhale all that water?

I imagined if my words were perfect
I could tear my page from my locked diary
but my lobes tangled to protect my mats in one
collect the runoff in the other
my pages yellowed
curled
faded until my words fell off

so, I built my nest in the drizzle
my stems grew more ivy
tendrils invaded my wall
rain couldn’t quench my thirst
it knew I wouldn’t open my mouth

I don’t remember when
the rain
stopped
I don’t want to remember
the rain

© 2021
Cindy B. Stevens

#Art #ArtlixirPoetry
#DarkPoetry #IGPoetry #IGPoets #InstaPoetry #Life #LovePoetry #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryGram #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #PoetsOfInstagram #SpilledInk #VeinHeartArtisans #Wordsmith #Writer #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

Photo credit:
  niklas-weiss-s83SHkwJkeI-unsplash

13 June 2021

corridor silence

 

does god follow directions

face mask

sanitize hands

bracelet

name

birthdate

is god in this cancer center lobby

 

if there is one god, two, three

do they hold hands

navigate crowds

wait on elevators

can they find the clinic

travel from clinic to hospital

return to another clinic

 

at night, in vacant corridors

no crowd to skirt

does silence confuse

 

back home, do they stay up late

eat popcorn

channel surf

read

do they watch twelve clock numbers

do they dream their fears are real

when curtains spill dawn

 

while they wait

is silence pulling on a wet swimsuit

hiking with soaked jeans

adjusting a bra on sweat slick skin

 

here’s what I’ve got so far:

is god in my fire?

 

© 12 June 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

 

#fire #furnace #Art #ArtlixirPoetry #DarkPoetry #IGPoetry #IGPoets #InstaPoetry #Life #LovePoetry #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryGram #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #PoetsOfInstagram #SpilledInk #VeinHeartArtisans #Wordsmith #Writer #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

 

Photo credit:  adam-kring-Spzz_JO7s5k-unsplash

07 June 2021

Amelia

“Amelia” is far from finished, but here are a few lines:

 

Amelia blends in with the pew

sits in a church at a funeral

the woman at the head of the center aisle said she loved Amelia

it’s a strange love

mixed up with control

 

© 1 February 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

 

#Love #Control #Art #ArtlixirPoetry #DarkPoetry #IGPoetry #IGPoets #InstaPoetry #Life #LovePoetry #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryGram #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #PoetsOfInstagram #SpilledInk #VeinHeartArtisans #Wordsmith #Writer #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

 

Photo credit:  abhishek-dhakate--yYaO0ioyOY-unsplash

01 June 2021

a s k

Here’s a wee bit of something I’m working on, currently titled “ask”:

though I don’t know to ask

I need mercy

though I ask not

give me mercy anyway

though I refuse to ask

 

© 25 May 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

 

#Ask #Mercy #Art #ArtlixirPoetry #DarkPoetry #IGPoetry #IGPoets #InstaPoetry #Life #LovePoetry #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #PoetryGram #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #PoetsOfInstagram #SpilledInk #VeinHeartArtisans #Wordsmith #Writer #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

 

Photo credit:  brett-jordan-8Fzn3XsIbxI-unsplash