iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stefano Carini

@cieloceano.bsky.social

255 followers 126 following 970 posts

Visionary fiction and poetry where history, daily life and cosmic myth share one reality: the soul cannot be erased, destruction serves renewal, and love never possesses. www.lulu.com/spotlight/skyocean © Stefano Carini. All rights reserved.

Posts Replies Media

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#promptcombo #Apocalypse #heartofdarkness #milton #poetry @rfsmith.bsky.social This is an old one but thought may be fitting .

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

#poetsofdoom #arspoetica #terzarima @jenthorne.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

#poemsabout #poetry The letter may be lost but never #deadletter #love #pantoum #blacksapphire

A Black Sapphire

I read that letter: ten years ago she wrote.
When the drizzle of her hair was a black sapphire.
Her skin a sandy storm, the sky to go before her eyes.
And nothing holding us back from the sea and its tides.

When the drizzle of her hair was a black sapphire.
Sometimes dawn tells, sometimes its afterglow hides.
And nothing holding us back from the sea and its tides.
I want to meet again before the darkest woods.

Sometimes dawn tells, sometimes its afterglow hides.
Where storms bear names of thunder, I’ll abide.
I want to meet again before the darkest woods.
A sax that plays the night into a thousand years.

Where storms bear names of thunder, I’ll abide.
She be my fire road, misty grass and bride.
A sax that plays the night into a thousand years.
I’ll stay beside her, even when her eyes turn into fear.

She be my fire road, misty grass and bride.
I read that letter ten years ago she wrote.
I’ll stay beside her, even when her eyes turn into fear.
When the drizzle of her hair was a black sapphire.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#poetsofdoom #crowds #dansa #poetry @jenthorne.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

@sonnetsmith.bsky.social #beech #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub #Villanelle #LiteraryPoetry #PoeticImagination

The Disinherited Knight

Imagine: the whistle of words in the ancient, as voice,
when silence as a mantle embraced our songs,
and hearing your heart was the tangible choice.

Beneath the beech tree our swords shall rejoice:
I’ll ride to the lady where my oath now belongs.
Imagine: the whistle of words in the ancient, as voice.

The day we shall name the wind’s whispers as noise,
our tongues will have cast thorns of reason through wrongs;
and hearing your heart was the tangible choice.

I sail on this draft, where sand waves rejoice;
my horse is of paper, its lengthy condition prolongs—
imagine: the whistle of words in the ancient as voice.

There is no time left among peers but invoice:
our time is now sold in worn leather thongs;
and hearing your heart was the tangible choice.

The kings of this age have speeches of poise—
their manners are scrapers of wood made old toys.
Imagine: the whistle of words in the ancient, as voice,
and hearing your heart was the tangible choice.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

2 #haiku: #PoemsAbout #Strays. #poetry #whalesandroses

Do whales ever cry?
their tears flow—immortal nights
deep into tides

harvesting roses—
on perilous paths of dew,
memories in thorns

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

@janpsolivagant.bsky.social #promptcombo #poetry #the90s Apologies this is not a new piece. But that’s what I did in the 90s. :)

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

@sonnetsmith.bsky.social #writers #Dew #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

For #poetsofdoom This is a #contrapuntalpoem between and #haiku and a #echoversepoem #poetry @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

For #faultline. #poemsabout #poetry #villanelle The crack rarely begins in this lifetime.

When I Was the Secret

My name was secret, when I was the night:
for love had flown across the winged day
where even shadows wore a cloak of light.

A human birth is mirth of clouds in may,
a whimsy whisper bound to bear its might.
My name was secret, when I was the night.

Words are but dust particles, carrying on their say
in spinning outer space of matters dark and bright
where even shadows wore a cloak of light.

Your meaning comes by, while I’m far away:
I—flying kite while I should be a knight.
My name was secret, when I was the night.

A woman’s hand are what isn’t meant to stay
because of dawn—both black and white are right:
where even shadows wore a cloak of light.

We’re on this world, yet we’re not meant to pray;
not even when our woods unfold in blights.
My name was secret, when I was the night:
where even shadows wore a cloak of light.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

For @daveashleypoet.bsky.social and #poetsofdoom on #autumnal #terzarima (kind of) #dreams #poetry @jenthorne.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

#PromptCombo #Personified #banklessriver #poetry For @emteepoetry.bsky.social Forgive me—this is an odd choice for the prompt, but please bear with me.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

For #poemsabout and #badhabits an #awdlgywydd

Can you forgive?

I told me to let it go,
be like snow, spring to forget;
but our mind is a lizard
still—sun’s hard warmth not yet met.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

#Poetry #PoetryCommunity #IrishPoeticForms #Droigneach #PhilosophicalPoetry #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #PoemOfTheDay

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Let’s try out an #awdlgywydd with this one…

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

A dialogue with #williamblake #poetry #joyandwoe

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

#writers #Needle #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#realpeople #poetry #terzarima #writing #writesky #promtpcombo @rfsmith.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Thank you :) I’ve been here today and it helped.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

#poetsofdoom #contrapuntalpoem #poetry @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Maybe these three? 🙂 The last one isn’t a character, but it’s the closest I could get.

From left to right: Siddhartha (from Hermann Hesse’s book), Robin Hood and a killer whale.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

A #pantoum for #poemsabout and #exitwounds #poetry

Why Am I Here?

I put the toys in order, locked the keys.
Then what’s that ancient murmur?
At night it wakes me, then disappears.
The mirror’s asking me—why am I here?

Then what’s that ancient murmur?
I walked uphill across forests of sand.
At night it wakes me, then disappears .
I circled the same roads across the years.

I walked uphill across forests of sand,
Their grains lifted by wind to join the stars,
I circled the same roads across the years,
I shall see the sea when sand disappears.

Their grains lifted by wind to join the stars.
I put the toys in order, locked the keys,
I shall see the sea when sand disappears.
At night it wakes me, then disappears.

By Stefano Carini

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

For #promptcombo #MapPoem and @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social with thanks #poetry #terzarima #williamblake

Urizen and I

A howling wind went through the night
carving my years as human sleep.
Darkness was called wrong, light was named right

while I sailed across seas in the deep.
In a round cave a lion with wings
shattered in its fangs what scrolls used to keep.

The endless bell on my ship rings,
waters before us open as rain:
while sky and sea on the horizon swing.

I see no names to give to pain,
the lion roars, the wind’s recall
made me, though wordless, here to remain.

Whenever one in awe may fall
bottomless oceans open beneath:
their waters cold, yet burn us all,

any bare skin willing to sink.
Learning to live: hold hands with fear—
leaving the shores in fading grey ink.

Thunders of time, clouds raining spears—
melt in the oceans a forever near.

Picture—The Ancient of Days, by William Blake.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

For @daveashleypoet.bsky.social With thanks #PoetsOfDoom #friendship @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social #poetry

Why do I write?
By Stefano Carini

I do not wish to write
to be known and seen,
not for validation,
not even for me.

I do not need to know
if I’m good or bad
in shaping words.

For what it’s worth,
I am no more than a shadow
dancing in the darkness,
a flicker of fire—lightless.

I write because I must;
as words are embers of my soul,
and still, they are the distance
inside my own infinity.

And we are countless drops
made of the same saltwater
yet, unaware—locked
in distant gardens.

How lovely it would be
to cross the ivy bridge
with you—fellow artist,
and make of our lacks and gifts
a single echo in the blue.

But even when I say that to you,
the words return to me—
they are the very distance
within me.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

#poetry #Forks #writers #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Coming soon: #TheDesertAndTheWhiteCloud A #sestina for Ayaan, my favourite character. #Poetry #HistoricalFiction #AmWriting #WriteSky #Writers

Ayaan

White alabaster corridors, facing the sea—
She crossed that day, though forged through fire.
Betrayal sealed chains; the nights carved a sear.
Yet the power of pain unleashed her hair.
The princes of light she then came to fight,
until a dawn bright across the desert rose in waves.

Her eyes were full open, a judgement in waves.
Barefoot she killed lions, foe’s fear vast as sea.
Her soul undefeated, the dead rules to fight:
when clouds became flames, the rain turned to fire,
the shining deep rose in flames through her hair;
while the flesh she loved had borne her own sear.

She walked alone through her blossoming sear:
the desert was water, the dunes became waves.
In her dreams a hand caressed her hair:
his words were unknown, in his eyes the sea.
By day she returned to war and its fire,
while telling herself that her life was a fight.

The war did not end, with drought you can’t fight;
when famine signed their skins with invisible sear,
to never surrender she crossed through fire,
where even the flames shook the nights in waves.
But then, one morning, her love came from the sea
caressing again the flame of her hair.

She sailed the death waters, the sun on her hair.
Their flames were immortal, and endless her fight.
She crossed the night through the dark sea.
Her enemies’ pride turned into their own sear.
The wings of her wrath then brightened in waves,
and chains of the soul were melted through fire.

The lords of the worlds are scared of her fire:
no one of them touches, nor binds her free hair.
The swords of her world are blossoming waves.
The enemy inside is the deepest, true fight.
No matter how many of these lives bore sear—
We all are returning as rivers to the sea.

Her soul is the fire, her fire is fight.
Her hair burns untamed, though flesh bears its sear.
Yet even the night waves return to her sea.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

For #PoemsAbout: when there’s a #PowerCut, I write a terza rima and speak to the Night. #poetry #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writers

I asked the night

I asked the night to borrow her name,
to carry her might on my body of sand.
She told me to find a darkness to tame,

return to her at dawn, extending my hand.
I fought demons roaming the depths of my soul,
yet after that war, I was left with no land.

The stones around me became burning coal,
my skin turned water, with sea became one.
Myself I could not find, in labyrinth I’ll fall,

where one day I’ll fight the fiend of the sun.
I asked the night to borrow her waves,
but I was no more—her name I’ll become.

She whispered her name in shimmering waves.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

#WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub #helicopter #writers

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

For #wildwalkprompt This is an old one, but hopefully will reach some new reader.

Black Hole
By Stefano Carini

Energy fields play, just like children with a board game.

The deep of the unseen—
new matter
forms in the quantum realm. As light scatters, in the vast, overwhelm,
a universe is born again.
 Its backbone bends
through now and then—
fading, then hiding,
racing through spacetime.

Event horizon—where space goes on
but time dissolves.
In gravity, all returns—
matter unlearns
its history, vanishing
in rebirth.
 Singularity—true mirror of our journey, the bearer
of what we are,
black hole.

Today is whole,
and here we are
beneath the stars.
 Pancakes for breakfast
with maple syrup. And we’ll say:
“Pancakes are galaxies,” laughing—
with a black hole of butter in the middle.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

A sestina for #abandonment — stranded on the moon, where love becomes the only light left. #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub #sestina #poemsabout

We Rise in Love
By Stefano Carini

My love knows sweet words, she lives on the moon.
When tides start to rise, sea waters are still;
a ladder on fire I shall place on those waves,
and climb into the night, their flames on skin rage.
When I reach space, I shall forget my name:
pain will fall downward, while I’ll float with the stars.

She’ll hold my burned hand, her face bright as stars.
She’ll teach me how to walk, somersault on the moon.
I’ll do as she says, though I can’t tell her my name.
We’ll walk on the night, watching Earth become still;
its cities run sleepless, its leaders shout rage:
to us on the moon, they look as if they’re sea waves.

She shows me the sun’s arches of fire, rising in waves;
yet in the dark skies it’s just one of the stars.
The lights are so many. Light floods us like rage.
I cover my eyes with a stone from the moon;
while before cosmic violence she can remain still.
That’s when I recalled the sound of my name.

One morning I woke, wanted to know her name.
Lost sight of her hair, that shimmered as waves.
The place without her was a barren rock, still.
I walked alone far: perhaps she was one of the stars.
I cried in limestone, because I could not leave the moon,
my tears turned into craters, reflecting my rage.

I tried to be gentle, while speaking to my rage:
I asked it, by chance, if it knew its own name.
But rage answered not, it stayed on the moon.
The words that I said returned to me in waves.
I wondered how far I should swim for the stars,
but I didn’t know her place, and had to stay still.

My love sings sweet words, and she remains still.
She’s not left me alone, to speak with my rage.
She’s near, yet too far—she walks through the stars,
while nights play a song. I can now hear her name:
I only know now it was fire and not rage.
She guided me through flames to climb onto the moon.

My love bears the moon, she holds the nights still.
Her hair’s flaming rage, arising in waves.
Her name calls me far, when I look to the stars.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

#Bestiary For @janpsolivagant.bsky.social with thanks #poetry #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #PoetsOfBluesky #symbolism Civilization speaks, but the ocean knows.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

#WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub #petals #haibun

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

For @jenthorne.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social #PoetsOfDoom #HappyPlace #Haibun #Prompt #PoetryPrompt A happy place, for me, may be a threshold where the past no longer owns the future.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

#symbolism #writers #Cress #WildWalkPrompt #prompt #writesky #blueskypoets #writingprompt #nature #5amwritersclub @sonnetsmith.bsky.social with thanks for the prompt.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

#PoemsAbout #CheapMotels When life is built on artificial rules, it can begin to feel like a motel rather than a home. This poem is about listening for what remains beneath that noise. #poetry #symbolism #consciousness #villanelle

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

@jenthorne.bsky.social With thanks For #promtocombo #monument #poetry #ekphrastic

The Winged Victory of Samothrace—public domain picture.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

@phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social with thanks. That was a fun exercise, though I’m not familiar with villanelle :) @sonnetsmith.bsky.social @jenthorne.bsky.social @daveashleypoet.bsky.social #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #writesky #prompt #relief #poetsofdoom

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

#PoemsAbout #TheLook #poetry #symbolism #mysticpoetry #creativewriting #writingcommunity #amwriting

Gardens of Imagination

The eyes of a woman
are the roof to the world.

When she
reveals that joining hands
is not sealing
a paper craft burden,

but spreading wings
dove-like among
the vast night of chaos

and making it shine in music,
as if the notes were water
and us—its murmur.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

For @sonnetsmith.bsky.social My take on #PoetsOfDoom. Rather than writing about one of the Olympians, I found myself reflecting on something more primordial: the source from which every god, every star, and every living thing would ultimately arise. The Absolute before creation. #poetry

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

#Poetry #ContemporaryPoetry #LyricPoetry #Symbolism

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

#promptcombo With thanks to @emteepoetry.bsky.social This is not a new one but ends in a #beach #poetry

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk #PoemsAbout #OutAfterMidnight #poetry #innocenceisfreedom That’s—to me—the night.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

#williamblake From “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” by William Blake. Energy is eternal delight.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

#poetry #thedesertandthewhitecloud

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

#poetry #TheDesertAndTheWhiteCloud Keira Knightley’s portrayal of #AnnaKarenina was in my mind while writing this. We do not conquer the ocean of the heart; we walk upon its surface for a little while. #promptcombo #defined @rfsmith.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

#promptcombo #maidenvoyage #poetry With thanks to @janpsolivagant.bsky.social This is from a novel I’m writing now #thedesertandthewhitecloud

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

#poetry #promptcombo #home #thedesertandthewhitecloud @rfsmith.bsky.social

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Working on a new novel—on freedom, resilience, and the unbreakable bravery of a woman. #thedesertandthewhitecloud #Africa When morning flies away with the years my heart is clenched by claws of rage, while the entire river is my tears and unbearable the ocean of this age.

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

@janpsolivagant.bsky.social #promptcombo #totemtree #poetry #poem