![\"\"](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F91a9b337db.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Ffd0fd7437a.jpg\")
\nDesire comes from the Latin, desiderare, “from” and “star” 💫
\n\n\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/25/desire-comes-from-the-latin.html","date_published":"2026-07-25T14:53:39+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-25 14:53","date_timestamp":1784991219,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94468617","content_html":"Desire, desire, desire,\nthat’s what makes the engine go…\n—Stanley Kunitz
\n
🌬️ new poem published at Poetry Society of America
\n\ncynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/22/new-poem-published-at-poetry.html","date_published":"2026-07-22T15:57:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-22 15:57","date_timestamp":1784735849,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93556984","content_html":"Notes from the Mezzanine\n
\n
\nI mean the hard losses—no coming back from this one
\nball already over the fence. Before anyone walked,
\nbefore we ran, just phantom steps and the cold sweat.
\n
\nHeadcracks, another long toll back to square one,
\nbreath guttering down to its wick, the rip of hair
\nstrand by strand, code red, then red itself.
\n
\nHospitality hours grind the knees, five white knuckles
\nand the years folded after the cheating. And I’m off
\nthe roll. And it’s late again. I don’t look my neighbor
\n
\nin the eye though our mail sticks together, it was
\nmy...
Grateful to have been published in Thimble Lit Summer Magazine print edition. It’s so gorgeous! Thank you!
\n\n![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780394702780/cover.jpg\")
🌬️ Currently reading: The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imaginat… by Wallace Stevens 📚
\nWallace Stevens correctly weighs that it is a poet’s duty to hold the interdependence of reality and imagination. Fully living in both, as a poet’s job and task, is to help people to live their lives.
\nReality is things as they are, and imagination presses back against the pressures of that said reality.
\n\ncynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/currently-reading-the-necessary-angel.html","date_published":"2026-07-04T19:55:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-04 19:55","date_timestamp":1783194900,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93430585","content_html":"“This has to do with our self-preservation… the sound of its words helps us to live our lives. [A poet] cannot be a charioteer traversing vacant space, however ethereal, he must have lived all of the...
\n
🌬️ Thoughts on Elisabeth Camp's \"Metaphor and That Certain 'Je Ne Sais Quoi'\": cynthiacliff.micro.blog
","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/thoughts-on-elisabeth-camps-metaphor.html","date_published":"2026-07-04T15:12:22+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-04 15:12","date_timestamp":1783177942,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93326614","content_html":"🌬️ Still beaming to have been part of such a generous & kind group of poets. All thanks to the PSA and Lynn Melnick for stitching together a solid cohort. The goal was that we would stay connected and invested in each other’s work from here on out, and I have no doubt that will be so! Excited to see where...
cynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/02/still-beaming-to-have-been.html","date_published":"2026-07-02T18:42:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-02 18:42","date_timestamp":1783017776,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93134968","content_html":"🌬️ New poem published! Thank you to the Poetry Society of America for selecting my poem, “And Even You, With Your Lucky Breaks” for their storefront prize & big congrats to the other poets selected. My poem will be on display for the entire month of August on Smith Street in Brooklyn.
\nYou can read more about...
cynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/29/new-poem-published-thank-you.html","date_published":"2026-06-29T17:28:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-29 17:28","date_timestamp":1782754081,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93023691","content_html":"Grateful to Brooklyn Poets for the finalist mention for their Summer Fellowship. Congrats to everyone! And I’m excited to see what work comes from the fellows!
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-06-27-at-10.43.50am.png\")
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/27/grateful-to-brooklyn-poets-for.html","date_published":"2026-06-27T14:44:45+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-27 14:44","date_timestamp":1782571485,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92848439","content_html":"🌬️ Excited and very into this visual poem by Eugenia Leigh in Poetry Mag: “Oh I Thought You Knew, She Said, Dad Is Alive”
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/24/excited-and-very-into-this.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T00:59:30+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 00:59","date_timestamp":1782349170,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92848039","content_html":"🎵 Obsessed with this remix/reimagining of The-Dream’s “Rockin’ That Thing\"
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/24/obsessed-with-this-remixreimagining-of.html","date_published":"2026-06-25T00:53:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-25 00:53","date_timestamp":1782348834,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92609977","content_html":"Happy Father’s Day to my beautiful dad.
\nHe was simple, brave, and integrious. Here are some songs we listened to together, and yeah, he did make Nickelback so cool. We had the Spiderman CD (Tobey MaGuire spiderman, obviously) and would blast the Nickleback track* in his blue Ford Ranger with the windows all...
cynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/21/happy-fathers-day-to-my.html","date_published":"2026-06-21T16:38:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-21 16:38","date_timestamp":1782059884,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92608600","content_html":"🌬️ New poem published!
\nThanks to Nadia and the whole Thimble Literary Magazine team for publishing in both print & on the world wide web my poem “Now and Later” in their summer issue (the cover looks amazing!!). Print copies are available next weekend but you can view the issue here.
\nWithout spoiling the...
cynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/21/new-poem-published-thanks-to.html","date_published":"2026-06-21T15:54:58+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-21 15:54","date_timestamp":1782057298,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92364848","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780811237895/cover.jpg\")
Finished reading: The Complete Works of Ricardo Reis by Fernando Pessoa 📚
\n\n\nHappy the man who sees that it is all a game,
\n
\nBut not entirely, for if he knew this,
\nHe would lose.
\n\nI seek not to live among the stars
\n
\nBut simply to live with myself.
\n\nFor the more clearly he sees things
\n
\nThe more the gods see him as their equal
\nUntil, finally, he feels his body
\nBrush their eternal bodies.
\n\nHow sweet it is just to live,
\n
\nHow great and noble always
\nSimply to live.
\nLeave sorrow on the altars,
\nA votive offering to the god.
\ncynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/17/finished-reading-the-complete-works.html","date_published":"2026-06-17T15:28:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-17 15:28","date_timestamp":1781710123,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"92228701","content_html":"Follow your destiny,
\n
\nWater your plants,
\nLove your roses.
\nThe rest is the shade
\nFrom other...
🎵 Came across this playful substack piece Maggie Rogers wrote about accidentally casting a spell with a voicemail freestyle and her journey to reverse it for the Knicks. Been listening to her on repeat lately, major line envy over some of these:
\n🫂 Six Flags celebrating a friends 28th birthday! I’m not a big rollercoaster person but 😮💨… Missing my film camera but some pics that came from other means … hopefully some film photos soon.
\n![](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F06b90ee002.jpg\")
![](\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F806391128e.jpg\")
\n🎵 After the LIVELY game last night, it feels like it should be Friday. That said, here are some songs I am listening to this weekend. I can’t wait to play dress up to all these below:
\nThe trailer for Broadway’s Hadestown pro-shot is out! I love the original cast, and this musical is my favorite. It’s one of the best-written pieces of contemporary libretto, in my opinion. I hope Anaïs Mitchell feels proud, and I hope ticket sales skyrocket.
\n\n\nIt’s an old song,
\n
\nIt’s a sad song,
\nAnd we’re going to sing it again
Here’s the original recording of “Wait for Me” Anaïs Mitchell first created Hadestown as a concept album, with Justin Vernon as the voice of Orpheus, though I’ll always love (and prefer!) the original cast version.
\nI’ve written before about the themes Hadestown draws out and...
cynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/11/the-trailer-for-broadways-hadestown.html","date_published":"2026-06-11T13:09:15+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-11 13:09","date_timestamp":1781183355,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91947307","content_html":"Need to know what was said in the pep talk the Knicks must’ve had before this last quarter. Wowow!!
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/10/need-to-know-what-was.html","date_published":"2026-06-11T03:28:43+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-11 03:28","date_timestamp":1781148523,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91919337","content_html":"🎵 Chanel Beads surprised me with their June NTS show. I definitely expected electronic or strictly contemporary, and while it has some of that, it’s mostly a mix of classical music, soundtracks, shoegaze, musical theater, and more. All to say, I loved it and it made me a bigger fan of their stuff
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/10/chanel-beads-surprised-me-with.html","date_published":"2026-06-10T18:00:42+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-10 18:00","date_timestamp":1781114442,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91852111","content_html":"🎵 Songs of the week:
\nSpotify Playlist here
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/09/songs-of-the-week-pitter.html","date_published":"2026-06-09T18:56:07+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-09 18:56","date_timestamp":1781031367,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91772698","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9780415290012/cover.jpg\")
I wish I had the time to write all my favorite quotes, there are so many.
\n\n\n“Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter when there is a void to recieve it, and it is grace itself which makes this void.”
\n
Finished reading: Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil 📚
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/08/i-wish-i-had-the.html","date_published":"2026-06-08T18:10:59+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-08 18:10","date_timestamp":1780942259,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91540733","content_html":"✏️ Here Is to Bravery: cynthiacliff.micro.blog
","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/04/here-is-to-bravery.html","date_published":"2026-06-04T18:16:24+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-04 18:16","date_timestamp":1780596984,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91366104","content_html":"![](\"https://micro.blog/books/9781857546910/cover.jpg\")
💬 Finished reading: Conversation in the Mountains: Collected Prose of Paul … by Paul Celan 📚
\n\n\n“Once the poem is really there, the poet is dismissed, is no longer privy.”
\n
\n\n“Craft means handiwork, a matter of hands. And these hands must belong to one person, i.e. a unique, mortal soul searching for its way with its voice and its dumbness. Only truthful hands write true poems. I cannot see any basic differences between a handshake and a poem.”
\n
\n\n“Poems are also gifts—gifts to the attentive. Gifts bearing destinies.”
\n
\ncynthiacliff.micro.blog","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/01/finished-reading-conversation-in-the.html","date_published":"2026-06-02T01:44:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-02 01:44","date_timestamp":1780364644,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91357318","content_html":"“It begins, in Germany, here, today, with the Individual. May we spread a fourth...
\n
A Few North Stars I Can See: cynthiacliff.micro.blog
","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/06/01/a-few-north-stars-i.html","date_published":"2026-06-01T22:02:12+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-06-01 22:02","date_timestamp":1780351332,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"91223453","content_html":"Here is a gorgeous radio series on Miles Davis from NTS–Hours of curated jazz, put together to celebrate 100 years. Of course he was a Gemini. Happy (late) birthday, Miles Davis.
\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/05/30/here-is-a-gorgeous-radio.html","date_published":"2026-05-30T17:44:32+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-30 17:44","date_timestamp":1780163072,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}