Lucifer says

a glimpse of “Lucifer says”

resurrection binds my hands

my wrists burn with dawn

prophesy chafes my bones

I’m a bird’s cry

I harmonize piano melody

I come from an open door where David sings his blues

he pours out his soul

it sparkles like scotch in a tumbler

every and each changed tide

blows my flame

tickles my heart

I recognize the gritty love of

Bethlehem

here, breathe my sulfur

© 27 April 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#mercy #sulfur #Lucifer #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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liquid

a portion of “liquid”

surrounded by bricks and wrought-iron

I cultivate secrets

stockpile seedlings

acquire heirlooms

but fragrant Wisteria strangles

my Hawthorn hedge integrity and

Silver Maple roots breach my wall

© 14 November 2017

Cindy B. Stevens

#distribute #garden #wall #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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praying for drought

here are the first and last stanzas from another recent poem, “praying for drought”, that I imagined on 1 March with the line “he builds a nest in the rain”; it wouldn’t leave me alone during March or July, and has agonizingly finalized itself:

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

stopped

I don’t want to remember

the rain

© 2 August 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#rain #fear #roots #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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found

this poem, “found”, began as a rambling piece, and here are four lines of the nine remaining lines of certainty:

Jesus tells me I’m not as lost as I think

salvation is not in my reflection

my voice

head

© 16 August 2017

Cindy B. Stevens

#reflect #found #certain #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 thunder

sharing one stanza of “my thunder”, a brief lyric poem:

thunder

scares me

wraps my brittle bones

black kettledrum

crashes

splinters my smoking door

© 23 July 2017

Cindy B. Stevens

#smoke #concrete #bones #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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collateral damage

This poem, “collateral damage”, took me almost four years to complete.  It started in 2013, then I had to leave it alone for three years, before taking it back in 2016.  Here are three stanzas:

some secrets damage

community

family

relationship

me

I’m no priest

I didn’t want to hear Rodney’s trembled voice confess his sordid secret

seek absolution

he dumped it on me

I went home

showered

the secret wouldn’t drain

to the septic system

© Cindy B. Stevens

23 July 2017

#secret #confess #casket #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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if I tell you

only the middle stanza of a recently written poem, “if I tell you”, which was inspired and completed in two weeks, 1 day; somewhat unusual for me as a poet:

if I tell you that my dreams

my off somewhere, that my

nightmares have become real, then

my shadows have sanctioned their shadows

to slaughter my sleep

© 2 August 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#holy #funeral #pistol #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 metal me

a few lines from “a metal me”:

I rip me open

I’m exposed, except for Elijah’s mantle that spills over me

like a surgical drape

should I wait?

should I leave?

should I pray?

© 2 August 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#metal #leave #stenosis #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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indigo beach

I’m sharing three lines from “indigo beach”, a concise poem:

my sand-washed mind

moon dominated

it lures my twilight

© 20 July 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

 #moon #indigo #twilight #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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ode to frontal disclosure

An Ode:  two stanzas of “ode to frontal disclosure”:

I count your colors

on my three hands

your pinks are blush whispers

volcano hot reds

yellow daisies in sunshine

sapphires and sky blues

you are rich mocha

cappuccino smooth

© Cindy B. Stevens

6 January 2017

#color #texture

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messy

My poem, “messy” tells a sordid story and I’ll share two stanzas:

I like tight sheets

clean sheets

crisp sheets

I like fresh-from-the-line smelling sheets

I shouldn’t lie on these sheets

dread heats my jittery bones

my pores whisper smoke, shiver flame

hair singes and curls

my skin crackles

feet track soot through his bedroom to his bed

where I want to lie

burrow in a cover with his cat

© 16 June 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#crisp #soot #debris #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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foggy bottom

Okay, I’ll lighten up a bit with one stanza of “foggy bottom”, a three-stanza rhyming poem (which I don’t often write) and a bit sweeter than my usual:

Fog has gathered over morn, revokes its blessing on the storm

that left the night with dewy gloom, ablution hidden from the moon.

© Cindy B. Stevens

20 July 2018

#fog #storm #daffodils

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cloud burst

This poem, “cloud burst”, is short and I’ll share three lines:

 

I house a cloud

it floats me

it siphons my light like sun draws moisture

© 7 January 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#cloud #light #siphon

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confession

Two stanzas from “confession” to share today:

last Tuesday evening outside the restaurant

there was a woman on the sidewalk

she looked hungry

she glanced at me when I left

I gave her a scripture card about Jesus’ love

back at the altar

I warm the cup with my hands

bring it to my lips

swallow your blood

I’m chilled

© Cindy B. Stevens

30 October 2016

#altar #hungry #blood #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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crush

The following is a portion of a recent double haiku palindrome:

I don’t want to ask

I only want to stand here

I want to watch him

© 8 June 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#Breathe #Crush #Watch

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my effort

This poem, “my effort”, is somewhat dark.  I’ll share two stanzas:

is it as easy as shrugging shoulders to plan a death?

your far away eyes

like the dog in the car in the parking lot

he gazes longingly over the backseat

out the rear window

I step from the limousine inside gated gardens

no tears left to wash my face

a raven flits from one monumental angel to another

exhausted with this life

why didn’t you whisper your pain?

© Cindy B. Stevens

28 September 2018

#alone #pain #speak

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autograph

The week we receive our high school yearbooks, we pass them around homeroom.  People will write something sweet, nice, or flattering.  This excerpt is from “autograph”:

I don’t know what Jeff’s words mean

what he thanks me for

I know by the way he looks at me

it’s something

I won’t want my mother to see

© Cindy B. Stevens

27 April 2019

#autograph #magnet #trouble

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an open window

The following portion is from “an open window”, where Stella cat, at a younger age, was trying to catch leaves through the screened window:

leaves waltz and wrestle

I leap, swipe at them

I forget the screen

and peek to see if

anyone watches

© 16 June 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#cat #dignified #tabby

Photo credit:  Cindy B. Stevens

beyond me

I write in my study, coffee shops, churches, bars, graveyards . . ..  These two stanzas of “beyond me” come from the graveyard:

 

Magnolia’s skirt lies on a meadow lawn

her limbs are not delicate whalebone in a hooped petticoat

they’re like arthritic fingers

some fractured by a lightning strike

dragged to a brush pile

they wait for a match to flame

a cylinder mower whirrs

broadcasted cuttings sprinkle a green fragrance

Willow celebrates snow melt

squirrels dance behind a hard winter tune

Lady Banks adorns a wrought iron gate

in this stone-wrapped graveyard

© Cindy B. Stevens

23 July 2017

#mower #iron #graveyard

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