Passion

Passion flares for a breath
Its burning consuming
Then life pours its
Water of reality on it

The every day cools the flame
With the need to go to work
Can you fix the leaking faucet
Children crying at the door

Passion has it moments of glory
To bring excitement to the soul
But intimacy grows bonds of love
Sealing heart to heart

The Angel On My Night Light

Moonlight On Two Wheels

Moonlight summer on two wheels
Starlight reflection in chrome
As your heart listens to the road song

A machine animal prowling the night
Eating miles of pavement
Hungry for speed and freedom

Bike and body joined
Hands gliding through gears
In a ride with the wind

Hours pass unnoticed
Lost in an asphalt rumble
Just you the road and the moon

Freedom In The Rain

Drops of rain splattering on the sidewalk
A drumming invitation to come out and play
To let the child inside me have freedom

The adult arguing with the child
Grownups don’t do such nonsense
Tossing work aside the child wins

Shoes off splashing through mud puddles
Smelling the air washed clean
I toss my head back to catch raindrops on my tongue

Troubles recede as I dance in the rain
A few moments of feeling lighter than air
Enjoying the child within

In A Sea Of Identical

There was a time when
I attempted to stuff
All that made me different
Inside a trunk in my soul

I wanted to escape into average
So I would not be noticed
One in a sea of identical

But once named an oddity
I could not escape it
Whispers followed me
On gossip’s wings

Lie’s arrows hit me
With wounds deep
Average was filled with
Vicious packs of peers
With an agenda
Of seek and destroy

Left to die on the battlefield
I could not stop the words
That were thrown at me
But I could stop trying
To become someone
I was never meant to be

A Good Book

There is nothing like a good book
Corners turned down where favorite
Passages are marked to be reread

An old friend who has something
New to say each time you meet
And doesn’t mind that you
Curl up with a blanket

A story to draw you in
And close the world out
Minutes of escape where
Your imagination leaves
Behind the routine of your day

Peace

Teenager 4

Teenager 3 (Pieces of Thought Continued)

Teenager 2

Written When I Was A Teenager

Thoughts Once Printed

Your thoughts once printed
Can not be taken back
Their freedom should
Be considered well
Before they are unleashed
Chances are you won’t be
Sitting next to the reader
To give explanation of your intent

Love Planted

Flowers now bloom inside my soul
A vibrant garden planted by a butterfly
Her wings bearing love’s seeds
To grow in stony ground

Bitterness was the soil of my heart
Nothing could thrive in that cold place
I didn’t care to ever love again

The butterfly took no offense at my rejection
She continued to come near
Joy surrounding in the beating of her wings

By coincidence or design I began to
Feel my vow to not love again crumble
My heart going from Winter to Spring

I never wanted to love again
But my heart could not resist
The flight into my soul of a butterfly

Midnight Hour

Midnight hour come quickly
Evening is exhausted
From chasing away
The fireflies with their lanterns

Darkness whispers as to not
Wake the humans tucked
Inside their dreams

The twelve strokes of night
Will summon the unknown from
Their hiding place in the shadows

They have much to accomplish
Placing imaginations’ clues
At each doorstep before
The night gives way to dawn

It is in the midnight hour
That today hands the torch to tomorrow
Hoping the new day will
Continue the work of seeing imagination thrive

My Diary

Mama I Miss You

Mama I sat and looked at you
Wanting to scream
Please remember me
Come back from that
Horrible land of unknowing
Your tears broke my heart
As you looked at me
Not recognizing my face

I couldn’t help you find home again
It was a place in your mind
Where I could not travel
Today was not real to you
You were lost in the past

I didn’t know that September day
Would be the last time
I would hear your voice
Or hold your hand
Feel your arms around me

Mama I miss you
Sometimes I feel like
That little girl
You were searching for
Wanting you to kiss my forehead
And tell me everything will be fine

Goodbye On The Telephone

I don’t want to see you
I don’t want you to
See the pain in my face
I won’t take the chance
I might change my mind

I am tired so tired
Tired from loving you
Weary of feeling
My heart torn

I am saying goodbye
Goodbye to you on the telephone
Tears staining your number

Hearing it ring
One two three rings
I am not sure
You will even answer

Your voice saying hello
It hurts to hear you
Say my name
I know it is for the
Last time

My heart crying
I speak to you
This is the last time
I will say I love you
I’m saying goodbye
Goodbye on the telephone

My Thoughts A Gypsy Caravan

Sleep again you evade me
I lie awake my thoughts
A gypsy caravan
Stopping for a moment
To entertain and then
Leaving for the next
Destination

Like a moth to light
I am drawn to sit
At a bohemian campfire
Illuminated with memories
I had hoped to leave behind

Daydreams dance
Through my heart
Seductive with the recall
Of my love’s touch on my skin

My musings nomadic
A restless search
For somewhere
He does not inhabit
A land void of
His face his voice

At every turn I find him
My soul snared
My thoughts a gypsy caravan
Keeping me awake

You Can But Will You

It is not can you dream
It is will you dream
Have you slain imagination
With your bitter sword
Of apathy

You no longer care
It is easier than dreaming
To be blank
Thinking they will never come true
Dreams only die if you
Are the one giving them the
Death sentence

Everyone fails
The greatest invention
Did not come from a
Single attempt
Failures are stepping stones
That will take you to success

Take a deep breath
Let go of your unbelief
Look inside your soul
And start dreaming again

The Grass May Be Greener

I looked over the fence into my neighbor’s yard
It is true the grass is greener there
The most beautiful emerald

There is perfection in its manicured landscaping
Flowers blooming in bright color
A shrub cut and shaped into an angel

I imagine there isn’t even an insect
There that wasn’t given a gilded invitation
To come play among the greenery

I turn to look at my own yard
The grass is a dull green with
The occasional weed waving in the wind

My flower gardens have yet to be planted
Cracked pottery mud splashed
Sits abandoned on the patio

As I stood bemoaning my lack of a green thumb
Giggles played through my thoughts
Visions of my little girls making mud pies

The very gardens without flowers were the fairy kingdoms
Where my little princesses held court
Dressed in ball gowns they found in their toy box

The grass on my yard my not be as green
But the memories planted there
Are more precious than a plaque reading
Yard of the month

The Legibility of Your Signature

Signing your name
That specific penmanship
Indicating your agreement

Documents in black and white
With endless clauses
All as clear as swamp mud

Smile pasted on your face
You just wanted to buy a car
Not promise to forfeit your soul

Press down hard enough
To reach all the copies
Duplicates no triplicates

Finally you are handed the keys
With a stack of papers
You head out the door

The drive home should be happy
But all you can think of
Is the legibility of your signature

Liar's Lips

From a liar’s lips comes untruth
As does the argument
No one can be believed

Dishonesty’s paranoia that
All are just like him
Deceivers twisting truth

Please One Step

My feet are paralyzed
One step please one step
I want to move closer to you

Your smile is so enticing
It must be fate
You are in my favorite coffee shop

Give me the boldness to speak
I hear that song playing in my head
Hello I love you

There should be birds singing
Fireworks going off around me
Not the grind of the coffee machine

Please feet move
Just one step
One step will bring me
Closer to you

Haikus of the Heart

Prudence Not Creativity's Approach

Prudence is not creativity’s approach
Indulge your thought to spend
All it can on artistry

It should not be clothed as a beggar
When imagination is rich
Dress it in your best

To leave the world part of your soul
Let it not be said you gave less
Than all you had to give

Secrets Are Bondage

Secrets are bondage
Chains wrapped around
Your spirit by the one
You have shared it with

Freedom sacrificed
Fear your prison
Walls erected with
Bricks of please don’t tell

Better to know liberty
By telling the world
Your secret with
Your own mouth

What Did I Just Say

What did I just say
My mother’s words
Surely not

The sayings I mocked
Begged to not hear again
Now coming from my lips

I won’t tell her
I know she would laugh
Say I told you so

But the words were perfect
Even sounded wise
Have I been passed a verbal baton

To impart the very
Words of wisdom
That my mother once said

Room to Imagine

Days spent living in ordinary
Suffocate the dreamer
To breathe she must
Have room to imagine

Generic constant sits on her
Like a cosmic paperweight
Holding her down
When she wants to fly

She won’t be contained
In a box marked routine
Allow her to daydream
And she might let you
Have a glimpse of the
Joy in her world

I Am The Only Me

I look at myself too often
As the least of these
Everyone else having
More importance

To value others
Without first finding
Value in myself
Is my failure

In basic pronouncement
I am the only me
That will ever be
My fingerprint on life
Like no other

Family

Family are those you run to
When life gives you
Lessons you don’t
Want to learn

They hold you long enough
To catch your breath
And then push you
Out the front door
Into the world again

Hidden In Plain Sight

So many words about self
An endless litany of
What you do
Where you go
Who you know

Yet nothing personal
The emotions
The dreams
The hurt

Animated with your verbosity
You give a persona of being open
No one realizing it is not so

Hidden in plain sight
Your talking a camouflage
To keep others from
Actually knowing you

Music My Drug

Music is my drug.
I am lost in its addiction,
a junkie seeking a daily fix.

My drug paraphernalia my ipod,
I search through the music
finding the tune to give me
my next high.

My portable drug dealer in my ear

I dance to whatever is my drug of choice,

Blues, Rock, Latin, Reggae.

Guitar chords pump through my soul
as I give myself to the rhythm,
my body lost in movement.

Rehab for me is not an option.
I am caught in music’s clutches
with no desire to escape.

©Susie Clevenger 2010

First Love

I loved you
I was only fifteen
My innocence showing
You were much older

Starry eyed first love
Planning on forever
Your plans carnal
Another notch on
Your virgin belt

Maturity came quickly
The stars in my eyes gone
I said no you said goodbye

I still have your memory
Stored in my heart
You were my first love
Thank God you were not my last

Anger Drunk

Anger drunk on its own poison
Seeks to rally disagreement
To make such noise
That peace can not be heard

Fists clenched it marches
Right past logic
On its way to insanity

Calm must hold its ground
Against discords barrage
To surrender to anger
Leaves peace war’s casualty

What Conceit

Cat Nap

To be a cat

Curled

Sleeping

No worries

Just the joy

Of a nap

But not

So with

Me I

Sit

Fretting

About

This

And

That

Perhaps

My best

Lesson

Should

Be learned

From

My cat

Close

My eyes

Say

Goodbye

To the

World

For a

Few

Moments

And

Just

Take a

nap