Nests

I watch birds

riding winds

in their nests.

I wish I could be

as brave.

My nest of walls

and windows

feels far more fragile. 

©Susie Clevenger 2025

NaPoWriMo Day 10 

 

Confessions and Attitude

I could only 

walk a half mile

in her shoes.

The weight of my selfishness

was too heavy.

The blues came

with bright feathers.

I thought pain only came

in a sky full of crows. 

The sidewalk is a valley of strangers

where eye contact feels like

an act of courage, and a smile

is too fragile to break anonymity’s spell. 

Monday is an elephant

on my umbrella.

No matter how much

I try to stay out of the rain

there’s always someone

waiting with a storm. 

I’m no angel in the desert

playing harp for the sun.

There’s more devil on my fingertips

than angel playing strings. 

If you want a hymn,

don’t ask me

to play among thorns. 

Coffee keeps 

my attitude 

from looking

for every line

it can cross.

It helps me feel

like it’s Saturday

when Tuesday

is tap dancing

along my last nerve.

I wish I could paint

the street with wildflowers,

bloom where my feet travel,

be bright color stalking gray.

Instead, I am a dandelion

waiting for my color to fade. 

Flowers nod with 

their sun faces

in a universe where

I am an astronaut gardener

calculating how many petals

I can travel before I reach my grave. 

Do I fear the flight

or where I’ll land?

I’m not sure.

I’ll never know

unless I open my wings.

Fear can motivate 

or paralyze with evasion. 

©Susie Clevenger 2025

Ekphrastic poetry written from images provided by Word Crafters

In Times of Rain

were it not for rain

I wouldn’t know how to bloom

where grief seeded me

she cried with laughter

a healing rain in grief’s drought

of withered roses

you loved hearing rain

their notes writing music

that didn’t hold pain

©Susie Clevenger 2024

What's Going On? ~ Rain

Spring Trio

 

Nesting Moan of Winter

surviving frozen

in the shell of abandoned

wing shivers of red

hatching on empty

fragility of hoping

spring will rise from ash

a featherless bird

i fly the ice of winter

searching for freedom

Susie Clevenger 2021

 

Of Eve and White Bird

 

escaping eden

where misogyny’s apple

grows from pointed tongues

angel of mercy

flying a needle sky

clouded with corpses

 devil’s handmaiden

butterfly pressed beneath glass

caught by Eden’s net

 

©Susie Clevenger 2021

The Sunday Muse #182

Risking the Heart

 

I’m the queen of hearts

royal cupid of choices

pain you encourage

 

♥

 

gambling on romance

can bankrupt even the wise

heart chase addiction

 

♥

 

infatuation’s blush

stains the skin a foolish rose

risking exposure

©Susie Clevenger 2021

Word Crafters Prompt