labyrinth

I found this poem in my archive written during 2012 and revised this morning, before breakfast tea.

 

A dream from 12 May 2012:  I was wandering, came across a small, neglected field, and noticed a statue in one corner.  It was a knight on his horse who had fallen over.  I tried to right the knight.  Carvings in stone surrounded the corner where he lay.  Stone carvings of the knight.  I stepped back, turned to view the field, and saw the ancient labyrinth.)

labyrinth

 

oh, labyrinth of ancient time

 

I walk your paths

 

look what I find

 

the knight who in your northwest curve

 

stands as stone

 

sad countenance

 

masked with fierce loyalty

 

while beneath his steed’s hooves

 

runes, ancient carvings speak

 

of pilgrims past, who long ago

 

walked these grassy turns

 

© 6 August 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:  ryan-denny-YSqMRoEohP8-unsplash

rest lullaby

  

I hold my hand to cross the street

from wakeful mind to peaceful sleep

what dreams will find me as I rest

in blessed slumber

and tranquil death?

 

© 11 May 2019

Cindy B. Stevens

#Streets #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:  colin-maynard-u1Ed8Nwk6TQ-unsplash

no pill

Here’s another that hasn’t completely defined itself.  I might title it, “no pill”:

there is no pill for morning after hair

cut

scissored

razored

washed

styled

sprayed

there is no morning after pill for bad hair

it’s not going to be alright

 

© 15 June 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:  birger-strahl-Hbgxr3AeXWA-unsplash

fog doesn't stop the birds

I forgot to post the following on 19 July, although it did appear on Instagram and my Facebook poet page.  Here it is this evening.  Keeping to my every 6-day schedule, there will be another one tomorrow.

I don’t where this one’s going, but here’s what I’ve got from “fog doesn’t stop the birds”:

fog doesn’t stop the birds

 

I sit in the living room

 

fog wrapped

 

one feeder bird

 

I remember somebody weeping while I slept

 

I don’t know who

 

I remember why

 

© 16 January 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:  jc-gellidon-GqogxAJwyRI-unsplash

maybe I'm dead

Last year, I shared the third and last stanzas from “maybe I’m dead”.  It’s a poem in my chapbook, Naked, published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company, and published this year in the Heron Clan VIII anthology.  Here’s the entire poem:

maybe I’m dead

I dream my sister calls

to say my brother is dead

but when I turn to look at his picture

my face stares back at me

 

I walk in the bar

jacket pulled close

I rest my elbows on mahogany

it’s easy to ignore my eyes

when they bounce

can’t decide where to land

 

if I put all my colors in a Mason jar

secure the rubber gasket

snap the wire over the glass lid and shake

will my pigment leak out?

 

I dream of me

white eyelet sundress

flowers in my straw hat

sister thinks the truth I tell

is a lie

why even try to be the good girl?

 

I ride the elevator with Jesus

right up to the top floor

will it matter if I jump off the roof

when I can walk on water?

© 2018

Cindy B. Stevens

#color #truth #lie #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:  martin-pechy-DmZj6XZXbLQ-unsplash

it's something to get rid of

Here’s part of “it’s something to get rid of”:

bigoted

       incessant

                 weeds

overtake

       climb in windows

              beds

                   grounds

excavate

cleave

sieve

destroy

compact

flatten weed fabric

secure retainer stone

drop screenings

now

dump       five       tons

frictioned       river rock

this something       rips       nails       from       beds

© 7 July 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:  farzan-lelinwalla-79WiPFzJrtY-unsplash

posture

This is a stanza from an assortment of stuff I’m pulling together.  When I was writing the haphazard stanzas, I didn’t know that they belonged together.  The title of the final poem might be “posture”.

a spatula folds the dough

scrapes the sides of the bowl

pats the dough into my brain creases

where it bakes and

reinforces beliefs kneaded into me

 

© 12 July 2020

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:  tamara-gak-SQLOsc0HGDI-unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

folding laundry

I’m still finding it difficult to pull my thoughts together lately or focus on choosing a portion of something new and unpublished.  So, I’ve taken the easy way and selected a poem from my chapbook, Naked, published in 2018 by Main Street Rag.  My brother’s birthday is today, he would be 70:

folding laundry

 

for my brother, Grant

 

sticky red pooled under your body

when you fell down the stairs

shot in your back

 

once

not so very long ago

but long enough to realize you

won’t remember when I kicked you

with my habanero words

 

every death I see

nudges me further from the memory of your face

your voice

until there’s nothing left

except letters

pictures

evidence I knew you

 

I fold you up

your arms crossed on your chest

feet up to your shoulders

a neat rectangle

it’s how I fold a T-shirt

 

I place you in a storage chest

try to smooth out the wrinkles of no goodbye

with words said

left unsaid

I wait to bring you out when the season changes

 

#Death #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:  haryo-setyadi-acn5ERAeSb4-unsplash

vines

I’m letting this five stanza poem rest, until it declares it’s 

finished.

The fourth stanza of “vines”:

when despair

death fear

vine my cracks

I want to clip

stunt their growth

 

© 7 May 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:  leeroy-FQgHHJzbwo0-unsplash

a w a k e

I thought I was finished with this 3 syllable 12 line poem; but, I’m not entirely satisfied with the eleventh line. 

Here’s part of “awake”:

 

I’m awake

in the moon

tonight she

watches me

she does not

laugh she does 

© 7 May 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:  daniel-lincoln-gxCFOgUrT-Q-unsplash

her breath

 

This poem, “her breath”, is still tangled, trying to work itself out.  Here are two stanzas:

 

I touch her in the night

when her breath is so quiet, it’s

almost

not there

I lay my hand on her belly

it rises

falls

 

she starts her sleep at her edge of the mattress

ends in the middle

programed to not cross that line

on her back

left side

her right

all on her side of the bed

she doesn’t give herself

permission

to crowd me

when she dreams

 

© 25 April 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

 

#Tangle #Dream #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:  ankhesenamun-FwgNmlHFeAo-unsplash

tough

Here’s the start of a recent poem, currently titled “tough”:

I’m not tough enough for us

hot asphalt calloused feet

where I can’t walk

scratched knees

where I fall

I pray

plead

bargain

with my savior

tell your death angel

pass us by

don’t breathe on us

 

© 25 April 2021

Cindy B. Stevens

#DeathAngel #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:  francesco-tommasini-tEi6VVgmEtU-unsplash.jpg

? wood fire ?

I’m having trouble focusing on my writing lately.  I find it easier to keep my desk neat, open the mail, and pay the bills.  It’s not easy to open my poem drafts and get in the zone.  I am struggling to keep to my “every six days” schedule of posting a poem portion.

 

Here are four lines that I wrote days before spring, which, of course, aren’t complete, yet.  I think the title might be “wood fire”:

 

the woods are lit

not with sugar maple fire

lit with paprika smoke

perhaps pimento spice

 

© 15 March 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:  yifei-chen-xG_C2BwknDY-unsplash

unrequited

“unrequited” is in NAKED, my chapbook, published by Main Street Rag:

Lester grieves for me

winds his sorrow as a winter scarf around his neck

its tendrils drape across his chest

he cries while his father hugs him

my sister is too dignified

to let tears soak her peach silk blouse

 

I watch the scene from my mirror

roll my eyes

canned music bleeds through speakers

believers raise their hands like sunshined flowers

 

there was no coin to purchase my funeral dress

so I wrapped myself with a deathbed sheet

its drape shrouds my bones

casket closed

 

I float the coffee bean aroma through wallpapered rooms

it fails to veil old lady perfumes, sweat, and aftershaves

my Irish linen tablecloth is stained with spilt tea

littered with cookie and sandwich crumbs

 

Lester walks in the kitchen to grab a banana

but they have leaked their ripeness

not even good for breads or cakes

sticky chocolate-like goo congeals at the bottom of the fruit bowl

 

my hair swept to one side

Lester dreams I kiss him

dark glasses sunscreen my eyes

my sheet sweeps dust bunnies across the plank floor

I carry his unrequited heart in my hand

try not to squeeze as I tiptoe from his bedroom

 

god, I need a Bellini

I listen for the dismissal bell

find the exit sign

I look for me, but I have flown

 

© 2018

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 credits:

rachel-cheng-G3ElLWatpwI-unsplash

rachel-cheng-g0qpp-j-aJ4-unsplash