somebody else

Two stanzas from “somebody else”:

I don’t know I need a savior

I’m too much commotion

my turmoil overcrowded

I’m bone-weary

I don’t know I need to see

can I be delivered from me?

© 21 September 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#savior #turmoil #weary #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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writing in caves

Here are three lines from my short poem, “writing in caves”:

I like my cave

I helped build this cave

I’m afraid to come out of my cave

© 25 August 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#cave #damp #echo #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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my Damascus

I enjoyed creating and fleshing out “my Damascus”.  My friend, Jim Adams, blacksmith and artist, helped clarify the blacksmithing terms I wanted to use.  Here are two stanzas:

my whole body harmonizes with D minor dross embedded in my feet

I can’t scrape it off my soles or

gouge it out

I want to shed slag from my veins

I need forgiveness everyday

but if my flesh

is a specter in my memory

am I still forgiven?

© 27 April 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#dross #slag #forge #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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giving thanks

Sharing the last two stanzas from “giving thanks”:

for wood walks

music

stories

dance

quiet

for hugs

friends

tears

family

laughter

community

© 24 November 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#music #laughter #friends #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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glass shadow

Two stanzas from “glass shadow”:

sometimes it’s blindfolded

intoxicated on a ballet stage

other times, it’s a brandished claymore

it flays my flesh

appears aloof, walls no one

sees, copes with day

torment, misery

at night, it spins in a disco ball head

it’s all I have

© 21 December 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#glass #fear #diplomat #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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tragedy divined

Sharing the first stanza of “tragedy divined”, a short poem:

my tragedies crave to cloak

hide

submerge me

my tragedies want to inhibit me

© 2 December 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#tragedy #divine #emotion #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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holy hell

This poem came from images in a graphic dream.  Here are the second, fourth, and eighth stanzas from “holy hell”:

thugs wear children faces

they carry guns under their shirts

knives tucked at ankles

they agitate hostility

spark skirmishes

explode malevolence

they don’t know their nightmare has my face

until they turn the street corner

my gun is just for looks

I hold it loosely in my bloody fingers

from a fight already won

maybe I should take that trip to heaven

walk out the kitchen door

click the latch

sip whisky with my friends

Lucifer will join us

he’ll remember I don’t like whisky

he’ll fix a cup of tea for me instead

with sugar, cream

cookies, crackers

© 29 November 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#holy #hell #tea #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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the pancake house

Sharing the last stanza from “the pancake house”:

nice people greet me by name at the Pancake House

they warm my boysenberry syrup

bring me extra sausages

sometimes crispy bacon

they remind me to take my purse when I leave

© 21 September 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#special #breakfast #pancakes #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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things I think about while comatose

This 14 stanza poem, “things I think about while comatose”, is about things I think about while comatose.  Here are stanzas one, four, six, and thirteen:

a hospital is worse than a bad neighborhood

a hospital is a bad neighborhood

vampires aren’t always devastatingly good looking

I try to bruise my garlic clove heart to keep them away from my blue pipes

they hemorrhage like Susquehanna and Allegheny Rivers bleed into the Bay and Gulf

~~~

I don’t ask my 5th grade bus-stop friend why she shaves her eyebrows

my morning screams wake me

but nobody hears

I see smoke

flames

but nobody sees

the inside of a guitar case resembles a coffin

plush like this bed

I know that fire isn’t real

but it looks really

real

~~~

I sit on a swing

watch the sky electrify the woods

hear air growl

break boulders

when I die

I’ll return

to my baseball cards clothes-pinned to my bicycle spokes

~~~

I still don’t know how long I’ve been here

I should end this

I can’t move

can’t stay

can’t leave

I only breathe

© 2 December 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#comatose #scream #coffin #AmWriting #BeWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #Dream #IGpoet #IGpoetry #IloveWriting #Inspiration #LoveWriting #Poet #PoetLife #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryLover #Reading #Write #WriterLife #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersNetwork #WritersOfIG #WritersOfInstagram #Writing #Wordsmith #AmEditing #NC

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a booster

The other day, I was scheduled for a booster vaccine and had to fill out a form listing drug allergies, medical issues, etc., so, I named my disease.  The pharmacist led the way to the private room and we chatted for a few minutes.  She said, “Oh, I love your shoes!” Then, she asked about my disease.  After a brief discussion, she said that I looked good.  We agreed that this is a sneaky one, and sometimes it helps to look good even when you feel awful.  She said that pretty shoes and lipstick help.  I have an idea for a new poem.

© 27 July 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

a snippet

OCD bubbles my veins . . .

I don't know where this one will take me

stay tuned

© 15 July 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

Grandma's spoon

I have a routine, ritual perhaps, when I write at home, in my study.  I put my grandma’s spoon, the one she received in 1910 when she turned 16 (it’s engraved with the date on the back and her name on front, Maude), into a mug that I’ve pulled from the cupboard, and brew a hot drink.  Now, I’m ready.  I created a document on my Mac titled “one-liners, snippets, starters, & titles”.  If I don’t feel inclined to work on a poem already in progress, I skim through this document and see if anything grabs my attention.  I currently have stuff sitting in the document dating back to 2012, waiting for me to recognize that it would happily pair with something I’ve put in there more recently.  Most of the time, I’m surprised and excited with the discovery, and write until my attention wanes.  Sometimes, I sit at my desk and look out the window into the woods.

© 5 July 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

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Graham Nash

For my 2015 Christmas gift to Richard, I purchased a Graham Nash compact disc and concert tickets.  On 10 February 2016, he and I attended “An Evening with Graham Nash” at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, North Carolina, a small, intimate venue.  A barefooted Graham came out on stage partially lit with candles, walked to the carpeted area, and the night was magical.

I’m a singer and listen to music on my way to work, and sing, because I love to sing and it helps exercise my voice.  This morning I played that Graham Nash album (“This Path Tonight”) and did not sing, just listened.

Those who read my poetry soon realize I’m not a feel-good-emotions poet.  I do write about emotions, not necessarily gloomy, but contemplative, questioning, searching, not joyful.  I’ve been writing these past few weeks since the launch of my first book, Naked, completed a piece yesterday, and will complete another today or tomorrow.  I write my best when contemplative and Graham Nash singing to me this morning enriched that mood.

© 28 June 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

my first collection of poetry

Good morning!  I've been away from my blog site for awhile working on my first collection of poetry.  I'd like to share the book information with you:

Main Street Rag Publishing Company has decided to publish my book (Naked).  It’s due to be released in May and will sell for $12, but you can get it now for $6.50 by placing an advance discount order at the MSR Online Bookstore.

Here’s a link directly to my author’s page:

http://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/naked-cindy-stevens/

The MSR Online Bookstore:  http://mainstreetragbookstore.com/

If you don’t like buying online, Main Street Rag will take checks, but the price is a flat rate of $10.50/book regardless of quantity which includes shipping and sales tax.

Please remember, though, this is for advance orders.  It doesn’t mean the book will be shipped early, only that you are receiving a discount for ordering before it goes to press, but the price will only last until 20 March.

Thank you,

Cindy

Cindy B. Stevens
cindy.stevens.poet@gmail.com
cbstevens55@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/Cindy-B-Stevens-poet-177575236364058/