Summer D Clemenson and Karen Gidderon Clemenson Writing & Creativity

He Knows How He Carried Me

I don’t feel broken
I don’t focus on my scars
I don’t feel desperate when I talk to Jesus
because He knows how He carried me

Nana is Still in My Heart

I asked God to help me not say fuck
when you are here
I remember when Casey was 3
and I told him not to say that same word

You're Always Welcome In My Heart

We had planned to grow old together
while we giggled in math class
or fell asleep because life was challenging
We recognized a sameness

The Auntie's Creed

I heard today that here are times
that just like me
you want the pain to stop so badly
that you want to die

So Here Is To My Joy!

I knew your nasty cancer ass was here
before the test came back positive
Nobody else feels like you do
But I decided I won’t give you what you want

The Pain That Doesn't Heal

I’m sitting here in the night
it is quiet except
for Karen‘s occasional snoring
and the ringing in my left ear

I Handed it To Him

They didn’t protect me as a child
they must have noticed I wasn’t there
when he came to see his mother
They knew his abuse

Many Ways to Serve

sometimes I hurt all over
and I don’t know why
I remember Mom asking me why
I was angry when I was a girl

The Spirit Feeds

It occurred to me
I am no longer afraid of the things in the dark
The things that scare me most
happen in the daylight

Let Go

I have been run through with this sword more than once
Many have held it
but your hand hurts pretty bad
Because you keep saying you

Systems Made to Help People

My soul is often screaming
and right now I am not ok
As fast as I can break a contract
I find another that festers

A Tuesday In May

The spots on my pillow
are from when I bled in my sleep
The tears of my people
who have walked with my feet

Seatbelts

We don’t say drive safe
because you are a bad driver
But because sometimes you might be tired
from working overtime so you can pay your bills

Raptor Means To Take By Force

He’s not too much
if you understand him
because he sees the beauty
in the quiet softness and it isn’t an act

Skin In The Game

My friend sent an article today
about people I’m related to
And I don’t see it her way anymore
Because I can’t

The Craft Of Our People

In the dark is where the secrets sing their truths
Where intentions are authentic
Whether awake or in dreams
these revelations

To Love Our Neighbor

I don’t struggle with my faith
or what I believe about God
because He and I are as solid as the fact that
He never changes

We Have It In Cowlitz County

Somewhere over the rainbow
the world is exactly the same
because God
doesn’t like illusions

Defensive Attack

I’m on fire again
but I have been knocked down
so many times
I can function at any level

My Soul Is Mourning

My insides are raw from crying
and they aren’t even just my own tears
My muscles ache
and my joints pop

We Are Cowlitz Strong

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is The Lord God Almighty
and I am one of His
but there are people running around

Daughter of Kelso-Longview

Sometimes we moan
whether in our body or Spirit
when words aren’t enough
“The Spirit intercedes with groanings

I Am A Warrior

There is a monster in my closet
I didn’t put her there
But I remember a life
before it wasn’t

I Live Authentically

I have been made small since I was about 4
My gestures
My words
My thoughts and feelings were often too big

I Am On Team Jamie

I told my therapist I felt like crying
I had letters to write to the school board
but I was too emotional
Matthew said to write first drafts

What We Call Our Creator

When my soul cries out
she calls Him Elohim
When I looked it up it is the
Hebrew word for Creator

Choose Your Frequency

The sky is quiet but the earth is shaking
and people are not at peace
This is called
psychological frequency warfare

Warm Blankets

When it gets too cold
my joints curse me
and talking becomes explosive
The nerves in my face might have

All Of History

Many White men is assholes cause they can be
They live up on they hill with the bright lights
cause they has all the money
and they stand on people like me

While They Posture

There’s a clown running around
showcasing a monument
we have held dear since the beginning
He has all but lit it on fire

I Am Here For My Creator

Do you practice in the Spirit or in the law
Is it more important to have butts in the seats
Or do you walk in the Spirit and Truth
When you vote is it based on blind elephants

Skin Deep

She stands on top of Black ancestors shoulders
taught to read by White women
creating change the only way they knew how
The ones who came before her

Sumatriptan

If my eyeballs melted out of head
or I vomited this pain inside
The effects would probably last longer than
the migraine that was not invited

Because We Are the Same

Maybe it’s the flower moon
Maybe it’s your birthday coming up
But I seem to be pulling weeds
And letting things go

Let Me Go

You were supposed to love me
and you failed
I told you and you didn’t care
If you have been thinking

Because You Said So

I am Yours
No matter how many rings
I put on my ears and nose
fingers and toes

The One In the Mirror

Have you ever looked at your reflection and thought
This is not me
or wow I have been through something
Have you watched yourself change

Grace is Amazing

In this moment I feel You
I can hear the praises
my soul sings to You
in words I don’t know

Being Chronic is No Joke

The ringing in my ears
swings between the normal hum
and somewhere beyond octaves I can’t sing
My eyes weep involuntarily

You Don't Listen

There is more than one frequency
that I pick up on
Not just what the world demands
and my sick body requires

All Hail The King

On this 16th day of March 2026
I know this day is giving
The prophets I have listened to
agreed that this day was

Because They Love You

I was breathed into life
by The Creator
The All Powerful
They were here before even the stars

I Want to be Real

I was raised in a
conservative church and
a conservative family
I did what I was told

To Be Honest

I was a hypocrite once
I was so well trained that I didn’t know who I was
I didn’t have words or experience or reason to think in
any other way until I did

You Stupid People

I see your arguments
your hateful comments
about people with brown skin
that you have never met

We Love Each Other the Same

I was thinking we love differently
but that isn’t true
because we both love completely
You tell me you love me

We Are Hope

Every day you wake up
to things you didn’t think
would ever happen
It’s hard to hope

This is Kelso-Longview

It’s 4:41 am and I hear the rain
and I hope the embers
at The Red Lion Inn will finally extinguish
because I don’t want Kelso

Divided

Thirty eight thousand times he is mentioned in the Epstein Files
In over five thousand three hundred documents
his name is found
Does that make him guilty

Those Who Are Vulnerable

It’s almost as if my body wasn’t mine
Opinions rain down around me
Regardless of the season
By the time I learned

The Power of These

The bad guys look like good guys
In fact they look like
grandpas and brothers
uncles and daddies and friends

I Was Seen

When I am with you
I am at capacity
I am acceptable by myself
Yet I am optimized

Men Talk

Donald Trump has warned
The United States
will hit Iran
“with a force that has never been seen before”

He Is The Search Light

The search light searches
for life and truth
And sometimes there is just mystery
Because God cannot be completely understood

There's A Better Way To Do This

Dr. Linda Davis died
Tuesday February 17th
in a car crash around 7:45 am
during the potentially illegal pursuit

He Was A Man

Geraldo Lunas Compos
died on January 3rd
He was a man
being held down by guards

Under The Apple Trees

I must stand in the light
and be the reflection
Of the love I know full well
Many think they know His love

The First Confirmed Death of 2026

There is no picture of
Luis Gustavo Núñez-Cáceres
that I can find
This 42-year-old

God's Breath In My Lungs

My soul hurts today
I have never been raped
but men have touched me
without my permission

They Gave Him Pills For the Pain

“Our professionally trained medical staff
including licensed doctors and nurses
provide timely compassionate care
to all individuals in our custody”

He Can Not Go Home

Victor Manuel Diaz
died in ICE custody
at Camp East Montana
on Digital Road in El Paso, Texas

Rent Is Due

They’re all wearing masks
They don’t identify themselves
They are driving around in
unmarked vehicles

I Hear His Cries

The 5th person to die in ICE custody
this month
in the first 16 days of 2026
Herber Sanchez Dominguez

Parody Was A Real Person

Parody La was a 46-year-old male
La was last seen in Upper Darby Philadelphia
He left to get groceries on January 6, 2026
He had been detained

All I Really Got

“Its gonna be hard to break me
because I have a strong spirit
and I grew up with a whole lot of love”
Keith Porter was shooting his gun in the air

A Neighbor

Alex Pretti never touched
the gun in his holster
the one he was licensed to carry
the one our second amendment protects
He had no criminal record