Spider Webs in the Corner

The spider webs bothered me
In the corner sitting there
Unbothered
Collecting dust more than flies
Unswept corners, uncollected strands of silk

Perhaps they were made for decoration?
Tiny strands of silken knick knacks or bric a brac
‘They weren’t meant to be picked up. That’s their space there.’
Bullshit
The corners are just dirty.

A dirty living room, in a dirty apartment
With a dirty man living there
Dirty whores who visit and do dirty things
Not me. Not I. 
I am not going to be another dirty strand of silk left in the corner

“I’m sorry Brad. I can’t do this. It feels dirty. I shouldn’t have come here. I’m going back home to my husband.”

This is for a dVerse prompt: For your first poetics challenge of the year, I’d like you to dip your word-brush into Bishop’s poetic inkpot, as it were, consciously incorporating accuracy (detail), spontaneity (immediacy), and mystery (revelation) to write your own original poem. I hope you enjoy!

Are you subscribed to The AuthorStew page? Why not? It makes for a great start to the new year! 😉

I Need to Go

Image by Jeremy Zhu from Pixabay
I need to go, like terribly,
Not go terribly just the need is great.
Great to go. To leave. To go away.
Away from … here, now, the situation.
All of it. No, not all of it. Not you.
I need to go but not from you
But because I need you. Desperately.
Woman laying on a bed semi-clothed with open books around her

A Taste of Stew Erotic Stories Collection

A collection of short erotic stories including all 3 of the pandemic stories; previously released separately. An array of stories ranging from a heated argument between a mom and dad that turns steamy to an interplanetary smuggler getting frisky behind a hotel desk. You’ll find a wide variety of fun well written stories to enjoy with high spice content.

In Between The Holidays I Came To Kiss You

Image by Sabine Kroschel from Pixabay
In between the holidays I came to kiss you,
When time stops in this strange period in between.
I want to be where my heart can be true.

Your lips on mine linger like spilled wine,
A drunken moment that I’d like to last into the new year.
Days compacted into just this time seems just fine.
Tomorrow’s request for me holds no fear.

What is the day? What is the year?
I lay in your arms in a bed we haven’t left; much less made.
What is the hour that we hold dear?

In between the holidays I came and kissed you.
Time stopped, the seasons changed, the calendar moved.
I did all and none of the things I was meant to do.
Will I look back, on the 2nd day of the 1st month past the year removed?
The cover of The Sex Cycle Collection. All four covers in a collage.

Read The Sex Cycle Collection

Have you read: The Sex Cycle, Seduced by Seduction, Fornication’s Fire and After All is …? Now you can get them all together in one collection. The Sex Cycle Collection. Read over 150 poems that explore the spectrum of sex, desire and relationships.

Merry Me

Image by 奕茗 王 from Pixabay
Merry me this Christmas, give me laughter and joy
Merry me this Christmas, but not with toys.
I want to be joyous, filled with emotions happy and gay
I want to be joyous, not because of things.
No more sad, spreading joy across the land
No more sad, I’m want to feel all things glad
Merry me this Christmas, give me all your love
Merry me this Christmas, joy, laughter and love to all.
cover of After All is Said ... A couple walking away from each other the guy looking towards the woman

After All is Said …
What’s left after you’ve been intimate? 30 poems that answer that question. Good, bad, worse & perfect. the responses to what happens after intamacy. Know what happens After All is Said …

Poems about what comes next. Read poetry that deals with how it feels after you’ve been intimate, in a relationship, out of a relationship, in love, out of love. After All is Said … What’s left to say? These poems.

Christmas Holiday Stories & Poems 2025

Stories

  • All in my head – A story about a guy’s attempt to get a puppy for his girlfriend / not girlfriend for Christmas.

Poems

A pot of stew with the title A Taste of Stew written over it.

A Taste of Stew

A collection of poems from seductive and spicy to thoughtful and observant. 39 of the best poems from the AuthorStew blog and scattered across the Internet are gathered in this collection. There is sure to be something within this collection that will delight you.

Cold Tableau: Better Man Than I

Cold wind blows snowy streets
Sidewalks white with snow
Lights brightly colored
Hang on tree branches
And rooftop edges
I walk towards home

Presents under trees
Would be nice to see
As would be her smile
Neither are likely
For me this Christmas
I’m so cold inside

The end of the year
Considerations
Past events rearview
All of them with you
Turn to walk backwards
Harsh winds on my back

But I walked away
Finding a surprise
You with another
Joseph seen in a
Nativity scene
Better man than I

This is for a dVerse prompt: And now we come to the prompt for composing a poem in the manner of a tableau
Poetry Style:

1 or more verses
6 lines per verse
5 beats/syllables per line
Poetry Rules:

title should contain the word ‘tableau’
poem should aim to be pictorial
no rhyme scheme
Extra points for creating a static Tableau scene as seasonal December or Nativity

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Granites and Schists

Photo by Dmytro Tolokonov on Unsplash

“Behold! The granites and schists of my dark and stubborn country,” said Igor, looking out of the window at the crowd below.

I looked at Svetlana. 

“The people are dumb as rocks,” she explained. She rolled her eyes and slumped onto the couch. 

“And twice as stubborn!” yelled Igor, turning away from the window, “They should be revolting! Burning cars in the street! Cursing the plutocracy. Readying themselves to rise up to their destiny!”

“And instead they watch as the modern equivalent of chariots and gladiators roll by,” I offered.

“No. Instead they line up to watch an orange clown paraded in front of them like some sad court jester. And as they laugh behind their hands the jester has led the enemy through the gates of the castle,” spat Igor.

“You have forgotten who your people are,” remarked Svetlana.

“Da. Granites and schists.”

This was for a prompt from dVerse: Write a piece of prose, fiction or non-fiction, up to 144-words, using the given line. The line:

“The granites and schists
Of my dark and stubborn country.”

I hope you enjoy!

Submission

An erotic poem

Photo by Kato Blackmore 🇺🇦 on Unsplash
Domination of a different fashion
Taken in by a good reaction
Dopamine hits just right
That spot you know, just get in my licks
I’ll lick you good, call you daddy
Enter in the rear if that’s where you’ll have me
I’m on my knees, face down, hands flat
Eyes cast down but a smile on my lips
You can command me, my every action 
Obeying you is my satisfaction.
A pot of stew with the title A Taste of Stew written over it.

A Taste of Stew

A collection of poems from seductive and spicy to thoughtful and observant. 39 of the best poems from the AuthorStew blog and scattered across the Internet are gathered in this collection. There is sure to be something within this collection that will delight you.

Webs on the Christmas Tree

Photo by Ana Curcan on Unsplash
There was a lady who lived next door
From a town in Ukraine born
Who every year for the Christmas season
Put spiders and webs her tree in
What a strange lady I did think
That there might be a meaning I did not link
Then one day when we did cross paths
I thought to ask
Why the spiders and webs I pointed
The answer she gave left me not disappointed
It’s a tradition in my home country
From a story of the Christmas Spider it be
Here I believe it is tinsel
It is from my country that you received such info
Once a tree was planted
But had to be abandoned
Grown from a pine cone
From the seed it was grown
Grown for Christmas a tree they’d own
But the family was so poor they made soup from a stone
So no decorations they had
To decorate the tree and make themselves glad
So on Christmas eve they did sleep
But in the tree a spider they did keep
The spider and family worked all through the night
To decorate it with webs and make it a sight
When they woke the next morn
The light shown through the webs the tree adorned
The first light of Christmas day
Turned those webs into a gold and silver display
The poor family was overjoyed
They were blessed for the home of the spiders they did not destroy
Now we too add a web or two to our tree
In hopes of winning a web lottery. 😁

This was for a dVerse prompt:

Dear Poets, I am going to make today’s prompt easy for you (I hope!) by opening it up to the following options:
1) write to any of the previous prompts linked above, using their guidelines
2) follow the wikipedia link and choose one of Legendary Creatures to write about
3) create your own creature using one (or more) of the types wiki categorizes them into
4) take a line from one of the three above excerpts and build a poem around it.

I chose option 2 (clink the dVerse link to see more detailed info) and wrote about the Christmas Spider, which I just learned of because of the link. I followed the rhyming of each line similar to the A Visit from St. Nicholas (Twas the Night Before Christmas), though I stretched some of the rhyming a bit. lol. I hope you enjoy!

Zero: The Absence Of

background image by Felix Mittermeier from Pixabay
Zero: the absence of.
And I got zero problem with that,
99 problems but zero ain’t one.
Zero ain’t alone,
It's infinite in its emptiness.
Ain’t got nobody 
And we’re together in that,
Got zero use for foolishness,
An intolerance.

Zagged
Edges
Reach
Oblivion

This is for a prompt by dVerse: Write a quadrille with zero. Hope you enjoy!