Divisible

Divided by thin lines
Splitting hairs
Plucking petals
Trying to manipulate the outcome
Control the random
Reading the one that you want
Decisions left up in the air
to forces like fate
and chance
and temper
I would never
Want to be so bitter
and caged in by what is divisible. 

~

RNH

The Thread

Thread through the puzzle pieces
Interlocking seams of light
Lasso around the central feeling
Freedom in knowing it
Freedom in sight

Equality not for a chosen few
More than about me
More than about you
Reverberating on the cord that connects
Us, together

The indomitability of love.

~

RNH

In This House

in this house
we know that the little moments
count the most
our dishes can wait in the sink

in this house
we value our vulnerability
soft can also be strong
giving does not make you weak

in this house
we strive to be patient
even when we have no patience
even when we feel pushed to the wall

in this house
we celebrate diversity
we love with every fiber of being
we are as strong as our word.

~

RNH

Tin Pan

making more noise to make more noise
a toddler with a tin pan
would be more efficient

you blare out opinion
without any discipline
to define it
your message lost
in the blur and the cacophony.

~

RNH

peek

there is a rusted door
creaking open
a locked vault
clicking through possible codes
though never quite right
the hinge always clenched tight
you can still see
the luminous heart
peek and close. 

~

RNH

Haunting You

liquid mirages, fazes
echo on slow repeat decays as
slipping yellow blocks are painted
across with truth, down with worth
and the trust
fizzles
to a fine point
singed wet wick lit
charcoal havoc
and i withdraw further into
my fog of dissonance
haunting you.

~

RNH

Soft Self-Portrait

chin resting on a golden pitchfork
another through the eye
and cheek
the smeared face, a mask, a cheat
at death, the artist
basks in metaphors
playing on the portrait--is a portrait
of a scene
the self could never be fully
contained
an image is only
what you see.

~

RNH

bridge

building a great big bridge
to nowhere
horizon lost
to an unimagined space
the hill and the crest, no different from the dotted line
flat red echoing
the nonexistent pace
i
nod and agree and cringe
at the directions
to be silent and simple
to stand in one place.

~

RNH

turquoise

dove into the sparkling pool
a turquoise jem, a liquid moon
the cool cascading over me
silent, safe and smooth.

~

RNH

ladder

out of this life
there should be a ladder
and out of the darkness
another bright door
moving from earthly to ethereal
must be so much like a dance
the body lost
in the rhythm
and the flow
changing from blossom to flower
from bud to the branch
from pea-sized to the dreamer that you are
must be the same force
infinite in the beginning
as in the end
written in the burning of the stars.

~

RNH

coil

periods of time marked off the horizon
segmented line of existence
coiled in a shell, life prisoned
in a cell
rife possibilities
of encumbrance, of desire
what would you do to unfasten from the dry husk
shedding each carapace, in turn ?   

~

RNH

Intangible

tell me a story

tell me about that time
you got lost in the woods with your dog
and did not turn back

tell me about the time
you forgot how old you were
someone asking right after a birthday
and you had to subtract the years

tell me how you fell in love
and deeply
and had your heart broken
and swore
you would never fall again
then
tell me how you did

and tell me how you knew
this was forever
tell me how the best things are intangible

tell me about that night
when you stayed out way too late
and exhausted, almost passed out at the wheel
tell me how you slammed the brakes

tell me how you lost someone
to a car accident
to illness
to time

tell me how you remember it all
and would not change a thing

how your palms and knees
crashed
screaming into the asphalt
and you still made it home

tell me the words to your favorite song

tell me your stories

i know you have them, too.

~

RNH

occasionally

occasionally, walking to the door to greet you
sometimes, holding it open
every now and then, shut it and begin
to ask you about your day and how
you were feeling
i never
felt like you were listening
and it burned
like a slow cigarette torch put out
on my skin
i remember every time you kept me at a distance
i remember every time i let you in.

~

RNH

Reaper

hopefully you were not on hands and knees
searching the carpet for a lost earring back
hopefully you were not fishing around
in your black hole of a purse
blindly, for your keys 
hopefully you were not blinking harshly
at a bright Sunday morning
after an all-nighter binge
hopefully death approached you as a friend
someone familiar, you were expecting
and would recognize.

~

RNH

sing-song

like a movie you cannot remember the name of
the actor you cannot recall
that time you hummed the song's verse
to revisit its title
the chorus, like so many other choruses, goes
through your ears and your veins
trumpet thinning to widen
your mind feeling lately
so much like a sieve
you rattle a pattern
and tap out a rhythm
and sing
what it is that you need.

~

RNH

parasol

twirling parasol, bright red and yellow
ruffles of fabric
shimmer in the light
strong wooden handle supports the soft shadow
thin wooden lattice lifts up to the sky
the delicate lace and the little sewn corners
someone's great-grandmother's hands
know the shape
and the patience it takes
for fragility to endure
for now, the great-granddaughter skips
in its shade.

~

RNH

The Big Fight

Eleanor goes to Panda's tent.
Knocks softly on the dresser.
Panda turns her black and white head,
"Hey, there, Ellie. How's the weather?"
Notes her sad face, "Aww, what's wrong? Who
made my little white bear blue?"
Sighing, Ellie says, "The world is strange
and dark and cold and cruel.
I try to do what's right and give
my best and give my all.
Sometimes, it seems, it's not enough.
Being little is just too small."
Panda nods, "I know that feeling,
like your turns just aren't spot on.
Your food just doesn't taste as good.
Your jumps not worth applause.
Everyone has their bad days, life is,
after all, a circus.
The clowns don't always make us laugh.
The performance is not always perfect.
But that doesn't effect our love!" She smiles,
and gives Eleanor a big hug.
"The glum and gloom will not prevail.
Your heart will rise, just like the sun.
Each dawn is a new day and every
darkness recedes to the light.
Just because you are little
doesn't mean you can't win the big fight."

~

RNH

the blanket

i snuggled into the thought
of warmth and security forever
and though the shape of the blanket may change
the bluest blue you have ever seen
will remain the same
context gives you the width
and time will give you the length
it is the miracle of perception
to see the indefinite in everything.

~

RNH

marvel

like a clearing in the meadow
a sparkle in the fog
like a picture in a rainy windshield
you reveal yourself to me
and i marvel
leaning on elbows
at your bright, magnetic sky
and i wait for the clouds to assemble
show me
how to love you more.

~

RNH

evolution

cut with gravel and the rocky surface
the evolving terrain of grief
stagger and stumble over the emotions
and the landslides of defeat

i prefer all this

with crimson knees, the air a brutal
violent kiss
than being like        you
as transparent as the wind

i feel, therefore, i exist.

~

RNH

the debris

sifting through the debris, the memories, the clutter
the testaments to how
things used to be
shuffling through the photographs, the soundtracks
the sheets of poetry
writhing in the images
and the unspoken cadences
sleepwalking awake
the nightmare
always
a woman in quicksand
reaching
out for me.

~

RNH

on the stone steps

statue, stern and looming

chiseled face

his look, unmoving

and his heart, just as immobile

solid marble through and through

searched for fissures

in the surface, maybe time

would prove its context

and the writing on the stone steps

show you where

I could have been.

~

RNH

siren anchored

she's covered in mud
and it's so thick, it blinds
her tools long dropped
unused
now they further anchor the mortar
she's relinquished her senses
to what the little voices tell her
in her cocoon
i watch
her hands fall to the sides, congealed.

~

RNH

scar

fitted to the witness
guilt and blame and lust and dripping eyes
unable to help this
burning crusted scar, ripping the sides
admitting any healing must be
god
or demon
flexing fist
i tear and
start all over
never needing love like this.

~

RNH

under the periscope

I bent my opinion under the microscope
under the periscope's depth
I waited
to see you better
I quartered my eyes
and severed my fingers
So I could better understand.

~

RNH

Eleanor's Vest

Eleanor's vest of bright red velvet
crushed to perfection, shimmers in the tent's lights
buttoned with three gold buttons, all twinkling
tasseled with three black tassels, all swiveling
Decked out in her costume, she smiles
Tips her little black hat
to the crowd.

~

RNH

Eleanor

Eleanor, the little white bear
in tutu and hat and bells
juggles for the applauding crowd
amazed and gasping at the air
filled with little red balls
melting to a blur
tossed with the greatest of ease
Eleanor, the little white bear
takes one last turn,
bows
and leaves.

~

RNH

pirouette

pirouette under a cloudy sky
twirl gives the shadows a new color
the blue and the brushes in between
the tresses of perspective spin
shaking my worried, worried head
i will not be what i was before
i will not stand in the same place.

~

RNH

ringed

ringed like a spherical vase
turning soft elliptical clay
transforming volume
into mass
to outline
the trace of your jawbone
cupping palm to the halo
days embalmed by the circling joy
the shape of your love.

~

RNH

calligraphy

i could see it in your hands
the way they laid down your language
in boxy block-like capital letters
in swirling, deviant cursive words
when your expression tried to stay veiled
when your sentences wove a dark ruse
when you could not be honest with me
your hands told me the truth.

~

RNH

diamond splintered

diamond splintered, littered
paradigms bent
around your accidental truth
the one you would only tell
me if i begged
in the right tone of voice
with my knees scraped just enough.

~

RNH

plaster

little fingers wrap around an open hand
with earnest trust
imagine if the palm was closed
imagine if a fist replaced
the willing, giving caretaker's face
a shut screen door
the wire
caged
both you and i, a mask between
years spent raking it off...

~

RNH

when the sun came up

when the sun came up
so did the morning
time entwined with nature
roots to tree to iridescent
light
reminiscing on all
the summers before
and the new, not yet bloomed
white flowers of spring...

~

RNH

blank

the pointlessness rose to aggravation
the blank finding meaning with repetition
repetition
repetition
I swung my iron sword of volition
slicing at empty air
accomplishing nothing...

~

RNH

so she closed

there was a woman on the train today
with eyes too heavy to read
or see, so she closed
her blinds to the outside
reflected on the inside
the memories of light
and taste and touch
and allowed her buoyant mind to wander
among the deep grass, ideas green and plush...

~

RNH

We Begin to Give...

We begin to give when we are not afraid. Not afraid of response or neglect. Not dependent upon approval or recognition. Not afraid of reaction, we begin to act, our concern placed appropriately only on the intentions.

It is in the heart that all great battles are won.

This is the beginning of one author's fight...

~

RNH