veneer

Oh my; here’s a sweet poem.  As I’ve mentioned before they are scarce in my writing.  My poem, “veneer”, makes me smile and was inspired by an email from an acquaintance who lives in Syracuse, NY.  It has four sweet stanzas and I want to share the first with you:

frozen air wakes me

I creep from my cocoon

downstairs

third and

fourth steps creak

hungry cats

freshly brewed coffee

herald from the kitchen

© 19 January 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#icicles #crystals #snow #frozen #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #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:  thabang-mokoena-747691-unsplash

sharing some of "power washing":

he power washes our home
mossed bricks
tree-pollened windows
it
takes
all
day

I’m trapped behind my plaster wall
my soul pollen chokes my voices
that blow in
and out with the wind
while I watch him as he
power washes our home
it takes all day

© 11 November 2018
Cindy B. Stevens

#powerwash #plaster #wall #voices #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

sharing first and last lines from stanzas of "Adeline's map":

Adeline is a paper travel map
her creases and folds are valleys and ridges

she wants a road trip
broken

there are tea stains on Montana
ghosts surround a black star

the symbols take her everywhere
because she doesn’t know where she is

she folds the map
it won’t fit in her glove box

© 11 November 2018
Cindy B. Stevens

#TravelMap #RoadTrip #GloveBox #ghosts #symbols #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

portions of three stanzas from "my temple floor":

how did I wind up naked
driving on the highway
windows cracked?
I must be cold

my arm reaches to the back floorboard
grabs my discarded bridal veil
I wrap it around me

my refugee feet hum
they trip over my veil
I slip on the polished floor of my temple

© 23 October 2018
Cindy B. Stevens


#naked #bridal #refugee #temple #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

My last post in 2018, the last stanza of another new piece,

"third person":

her daytime nightmare
lasers to his brother who tried
wanted
to break her

© 13 December 2018
Cindy B. Stevens

#Brother #Daytime #Nightmare #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

two stanzas from "it's not about December":

I exhaust me

I hear wind before it reaches my hair

breeze sways my nightgown

trees shadow an orangey pale-pink sky

sunrise at the stable
blue-bright morning star

ice on boughs like crystals and diamonds on firs

shatters to the ground

splits my silence like bagpipes in Brooklyn

I stay, wait, hope

I go back to the manger

© Cindy B. Stevens

18 December 2018

#December #Manger #Bagpipes #Brooklyn #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

home movies and holiday

Our holiday:  Charleston on Thursday, then Tennessee.  We cancelled Charleston, postponed Tennessee.  I've been viral since Sunday.  It's home movies day.  My brother gave me Grandpa's projector, home movies from the early 60s.  Trips, friends, family, flowers; our grandparents LOVED flowers.

Richard set up the screen, projector in our family room; I identify relatives, some flowers.  Rochester's Highland Park, along with my family and my uncle's.  We ride the mower, and the small garden tractor that pulled a cart.  Young, silly, loved.

Couples, grandparents' contemporaries, arrive for a meeting, dinner, something.  Men wear suits, dark fedoras; the women, dresses, pearls.  They look like gangsters with wives.  My grandparents with friends vacation in Florida.  Cypress Gardens, Orchid House, water-skiing acrobats, flamingos, peacocks, tropical birds, Shetland ponies.

My family's Syracuse life, the youngest movie of my brothers and me.  We rollerskate the sidewalk, wave American flags as we skate, Independence Day.  The same skates that Dad mounted to the bottom of curved 24 inch boards to craft our skateboards in Norfolk:  ships,  softball, meals.  We're young; my parents beautiful.  I forgot how beautiful, how they smiled.

Another visit with grandparents; if we watched these reels in chronological order, this would be the last.  I'm in 7th grade, Dale 9th, Grant 10th.  Fifi and Muffin with us, running around the property beside the creek, chasing with my brothers and Dad.

Last reel:  Flowers at Highland; Autumn view at home; Sky divers; Kennedy's funeral proc.; Norfolk Navy Base.  Hot house flowers, friends, family.⠀ Grandpa's cousin was in Naval Intelligence, my grandparents visited him, his family frequently.  JFK's funeral procession, afterwards, no smiles for the camera.

© 22 December 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

#HomeMovies #Memories #Family #Flowers #JFK #HorseDrawnCaisson #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #Bookworm #BookLove #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #Writer #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

is it enough?

There's a scramble in my brain and I have a headache.  The scramble hasn't given me the headache, it's been here for 2 days and I can't seem to get rid of it.  Here's a wee bit of the scramble.

It's the gift season.  Some wrapped in gloss, plain, patterns, some tied with bows, fancy ribbons, string.  Sometimes, I'm all wrapped up in myself or tied in knots.  I want to be unwrapped, untied.

We want gifts; we give gifts; we are gifts; we all have gifts.  We hide, share, hoard, doubt our gifts.  The doubt grabs my brain; it tells my hand to not write or expose my vulnerability.  If I write it, will it tear me apart, make me stronger, can I manage it?  Will it speak, touch?  Will it be too much? Will it be enough?

© 17 December 2018
Cindy B. Stevens

#hide #share #doubt #gift #vulnerable #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #Bookworm #BookLove #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #HillsboroughNC

I never saw him leave

I plan to read and sing at open mic tonight.  Here’s a few lines of a piece I’ve almost “finished”.  Ha.  The title is “I never saw him leave”:

last Thursday, he stopped calling me

because he’s not here to touch
my body rocks to comfort me

© Cindy B. Stevens
29 November 2018

#BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #BookLove #Bookworm #BookwormForLife #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #Local #HillsboroughNC @kingstreetbarKSB #OpenMic

no salt

I just finished a piece for my next book with this line:  “there is no salt in the pantry”.

© 19 November 2017
Cindy B. Stevens

#bread #salt #pantry #burn #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #Bookworm #BookLove #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #Local #HillsboroughNC

I've been remiss

I've not posted my last few.  I've posted on Facebook and Instagram, but it's not automatically posted from Buffer to my blog.  I apologize to anyone who checks in on my blog.  My website designer has encouraged me to post regularly on these social media platforms, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to balance what happens in my brain, getting it down on paper, and what to share with you.  So, this evening I will catch you up.  Thank you for reading!

a portion of "my circus"

This stanza is a portion of my poem, titled “my circus” for the next book:
 . . .
my catcher is the morning star
he blinds my daredevil
I inhale his whispered promise
release my panicked grip
fly through a loud hush
my catcher grabs my wrists

© Cindy B. Stevens
16 November 2017

#trapeze #circus #promise #rescue #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #Bookworm #BookLove #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoet #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #Local #HillsboroughNC

a line from Jack's next novel . . .

 

I’m a character in Jack’s next novel but I’m
going to sleep all day

© Cindy B. Stevens
21 August 2018


#sleep #novel #BeWriting #AmWriting #AmEditing #Bookworm #BookLove #Dream #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogpost #PoetLife #PoetryLover #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #Wordsmith #WritersNetwork #Write #Writing #Local #HillsboroughNC #OrangeCounty

I LOVE this piece by John Walker on friendship:

I LOVE this piece by John Walker on friendship:

“With the falling of the leaves, the masks of green are stripped off the hillsides revealing the diversity and uniqueness of each ridge and valley, rock and stream, old shed and oil well hither to unseen.  It is in the winter, when the hills bare their innermost selves, that we get to know them.  Then in the spring, when the masks return, we can look at the hills as old friends few others understand.

So it is with people.  Most of the time we wear our masks.  But during the difficult times, during the winters of our lives, we shed the facades and reveal all the intricacies of the unique beings we are.  It is in these moments that friendships are formed, and we experience one another as few ever will.”

#JohnWalker #Winter #Mask #Friend #Friend #Friendship #Reveal #Unique #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLover #BookLove #Dream #Dreams #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogpost #PoetLife #PoetryLover #Local #HillsboroughNC  #Hillsborough #NC #OrangeCounty

waiting . . .

How I feel about waiting depends on what I’m waiting for; sometimes I’m impatient, sometimes resigned, sometimes I ask, “Lord, how much longer?” I wait for inspiration and insight, which come in bits and pieces through every day occurrences, contemplation, God’s creations . . . ; I wait for the time when my thoughts and insights make their way from my pen to page. Sometimes, I feel ungrounded. © Cindy B. Stevens 7 September 2018 #Wait #Waiting #Impatient #Impatience #Insight #Daily #Contemplation #Thought #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLover #BookLove #Dream #Dreams #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogpost #PoetLife #PoetryLover #Local #HillsboroughNC #Hillsborough #NC #OrangeCounty

Golda Meir quote

“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.”–Golda Meir


#GoldaMeir #Laugh #Laughter #Weep #Heart #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLover #BookLove #Dream #Dreams #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogpost #PoetLife #PoetryLover #Local #HillsboroughNC  #Hillsborough #NC #OrangeCounty

sharing a portion of “residual sugar”, a poem ready for my editor:

she gets smaller each time, her back a little more fragile
who will tend the flowers on the graves when she is gone © 17 February 2018 Cindy B. Stevens #Flowers #Graves #Death #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLover #BookLove #Dream #Dreams #IloveWriting #LoveWriting #Inspiration #IGpoetry #Poet #Poetry #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogpost #PoetLife #PoetryLover #Local #HillsboroughNC #Hillsborough #NC #OrangeCounty

from my dream

Some of my poems come from dreams that wake me up, like one I had a couple of weeks ago.  As I wrote that particular poem, it became a song.  I’ve just finished it and want to share a line with you. I haven’t decided whether or not to read it at Nash Street Tavern, but it will be in my next book.

 . . . last night I dreamed I was married to the devil . . .

© 14 August 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

#marriage #marry #married #gown #wedding #song #music #ILoveWriting #BeWriting #AmWriting #BookLovers #BookLover #BookLove #WritersOfInstagram #WritersOfIG #WritersCommunity #WritersCorner #WritersCommunity #Inspiration #Suspense #IGpoetry #Poetry #Poet #PoetryLover #PoetryBlog #PoetryBlogger #PoetryBlogPost #Local #HillsboroughNC #OrangeCounty #NashStreetTavern #OpenMic