in the shower

It’s our wedding anniversary, so, I’ll share five lines from the first stanza of “in the shower”:

I see you

through my frosted shower door

you watch me

massage shampoo

condition my hair

. . . 

© 22 December 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#steam #shower #watch #lather #Art #ArtlixirPoetry #InstaPoetry #Life #MicroPoetry #Poem #Poet #PoetsOfInstagram #PoetryCommunity #PoetryIsLife #PoetryIsNotDead #PoetryLovers #PoetryOfig #PoetryOfInstagram #PoetryPorn #PoetSociety #SpilledInk #Thoughts #Word #Write #Writer #WritersCommunity #WritersLife #WritersOfInstagram #Writing

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even though

This poem began as a writing exercise at Table Rock Writers Workshop in 2016.  Here are 3 stanzas from “even though”:

I simmered in my parent’s omniscience for years

even though it was clear I’d been in the stew too long

I had not found the ladle to scoop myself into my own bowl

I simmered, but never boiled over

my flavors became bold and savory

the longer I cooked

even though I escaped indigestion

I still burned my esophagus

even though I know my crazy

I want my family to see my crazy

love my crazy

© Cindy B. Stevens

5 August 2017

#crazy #family #burn #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 #tablerockwritersworkshop

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mistress

Three lines from “mistress”, which began as a very long poem, until I dissected it down to the bones:

hands over curves

heat imbues

reduces my bones to tissue

© 18 April 2020

Cindy B. Stevens

#mistress #curves #seduce #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 cancer

Something that touches us all, but who would write an ode to it?  Here are a couple of stanzas from “ode to cancer”:

you target

attack

I maneuver

fight

you can’t break me

your shadow ambushes

you want everything

© 19 June 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

#cancer #ambush #fight #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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dandy lion

This poem begins with a sense of hopelessness, but transforms to freedom and power.  Three stanzas of “dandy lion”:

this night

I know why

I dream

I cry

no wing

no eye

no control

I die

I raise

fluffed lace

catch my star’s

birthplace

I’m a faithful

pale whore

dandy lion

I roar

© Cindy B. Stevens

6 October 2016

#hopeless #power #freedom #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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this grief

These lines are from “this grief”, a raw, personal poem:

there’s a grief that leaks from me

my pores squeeze it

it washes my skin

drips off my fingernails

did you ever get over the death of your brothers?

asked a voice in my dream this morning

my daughter

my brothers

these griefs hug my ribs

they’re why I cry

the wind

it’s what makes me hate cold days

the sting

bite

freeze tears on my cheeks

that’s all I have to say about my dead

© 23 June 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#grief #dead #violent #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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yellow wall

I shared “yellow wall” with a friend, who said it was creepy.  It’s a conversation that popped in my head and I think you can appreciate its creepiness with these lines:

some of the walls here are an interesting shade of yellow

                        it’s mucus

sort of like some old hospital walls are puke green?

                        no

so what do you mean?

                        on my first morning here, I walked down the East Hall, touched each light

switch

                        I ran my fingers along the wall, it was slimy

did you mention that to anyone?

                        no, that afternoon it was grainy, like sand

you’re keeping this information to yourself

                        yeah, except see that guy staring out the window?

                        This morning I told him about the walls.  He told the nurse someone

whispered that some walls were made of mucus.

what did she say?

                        nothing

then, what’s the problem?

                        she gave him more medication

© 3 January 2020

Cindy B. Stevens

#mind #medicate #therapy #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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too afraid

Hard to decide which pieces of “too afraid” to share with you, but decided on these:

my fear is a book

shoved on the library shelf

I don’t want to read

my tear

bores a damp spot

a worm that eats its way through

I want an old reel-to-reel home movie

I’m hungry

but too afraid to bite the apple

© 21 October 2016

Cindy B. Stevens

#movie #fear #read #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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riptide

Here are 6 lines from “riptide”, a Palindrome:

I drown me

dredged through salt storm

wrapped in squid

weightless

 

unspoken power

my temples tremble secrets

© Cindy B. Stevens

28 July 2017

#storm #secret #power #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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snow

Some lines from “snow”:

blood washed my chalk line

I love speed

highway hum

roads sleet slick

I sneeze

wheel jerks back over yellow line

damn that monster

© Cindy B. Stevens

30 August 2017

#speed #highway #monster #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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Sunday isn't Sunday

Here’s part of a poem I just started, "Sunday isn’t Sunday":

Sunday afternoon breathes Saturday night

its chest rises

falls

breath like Cortland apples

its mouth full of Easter peeps

© 18 April 2020

Cindy B. Stevens

#Sunday #hangover #Easter #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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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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