When I was young and learning how to write, I was taught that poems had rhythms tight. The words, the lines, the rules — they served as walls And that without these strictures all would fall. The rules, they said, were there to form a spine — The art was how the writer, so confined,…
Author: Clio
The Citadel II
From the window of the citadel, high above the trees, they could see the village below. There was the house they had lived in as a child. There was the chimney, a wisp of smoke idling out in the still of the springtime air. There was the roof they had climbed on as a child….
somewhere in between
somewhere in between the evening and the dawn as the rain clouds settled in and the moon disappeared i saw your shadow i whispered your name i felt your presence for a moment everything was serene everything had stopped all my fears were quieted in that liminal haze somewhere in between the evening and the…
Mines of Mine
the garden of my soul is filled with land mines my mother dug each hole with care and laid the shell down my father covered them with dirt making sure that each was armed i do not have the map to my mine-filled garden i do not know how many mines are left to explode…
Swimming
i swam out beyond the buoys and kept swimming i closed my eyes so i would not see the shore slipping away from view and though my arms burned and though i knew you were long out of reach i kept swimming i had stood on the shore for far too long i had rested…
Breathe
breathe and don’t stop breathing push and don’t stop pushing fight and don’t stop fighting each time they win, they grow stronger they build new strategies they find more weaknesses in your defenses if you quit, they win again and they cannot win again so breathe and don’t stop breathing — Clio 04.05.21
Sunrise Service
on an easter when i still believed on the western bank of the saint clair river in a park where my father and i were setting out folding chairs just before the sunrise he in his minister’s gown was surprised that i was up so early on a sunday since i didn’t like church but…
The Citadel I
I found you naked in the citadel. You were sitting on the floor, hugging your knees, your back covered in scars from the leeches that had drained your spirit. I spoke in soft tones, saying what I thought was your name. But you did not even turn your head. So I stood there in the…
the man in the mirror isn’t one
“freak” is a brick thrown through a window i can see it coming: chest expanded, eyes red, primate teeth bared it has been pulled from the foundation of the house i would not live in it was crafted from the stones of the land i have disavowed ground up and box shaped and the color…
i held my tongue
i held my tongue one too many times and now it’s run away i freed it for just a moment but it saw an opportunity and took it the last time i saw it it was in the yard digging underneath the fence by the back wall i couldn’t call out to it so i…