Protection

In the rusted, climbing
Scaffolding
Twig nests
Embrace
Between the eaves
Protecting the unseen, proving
Even in the midst of collapse
Life will prevail.

~

RNH

enough

we were not enough
but we were
bound together.

~

RNH

the impossible

when Sea would not meet Shore
and Beginning not conclude with End
when the Balloon fought even its content
the very Air, unkempt
and every Neon Sign refused to reveal
its scintillating Thought
only then
would i ever
stop
loving you.

~

RNH

wolf

went hunting
with blood in her eyes
and light in her teeth
seething
reveling in the empty
and feeling
complete.

~

RNH

essence

through cerulean truths,
hand slipped through netting
fingertips twinkling through beads
clinking rings in the story
circled back
found the essence
the pool deeper than its own reflection
tiny droplets fell
the captured
words upon my lips.

~

RNH

hostage

they did not hold a gun to her head
just an answer
did not force her hands to be tied
but left the question
burning as the memory
of her two-year old knees
scraping asphalt
drug,
invisible,
for miles behind them.

~

RNH

ruby-red

there would be too many walls
between us, if i counted
them all, too many
isolated
incidents
when gathered, appall
the eyes-open sensibility
mutilated, withdraws
truth dripping
rubies from my finger.

~

RNH

backstage

with the feathers in your hair
you smiled in the darkness
us standing between
the heavy-curtained wings

relevé, 

stretch, 

giggle

every second closer

to the whole world
in the flat black of an audience
waiting
to be seen.

~

RNH

lattice

stitched together
toil and treasure
digging for empathy
under the wound
dragging the questions
nicked by every sharp
corner, ambivalent rock festooned
lying on my excavation--
the truth.

~

RNH

streak

each line slid
like a curtain to the floor
unfolding from its starting place
the roll of thought unfurled
and the ink contained the memory
and the color held the frame
and the stain pressed every second
to my heart, your echoing name.

~

RNH

the time

after today
all that will be left is silence
every memory will be folded
like the edges of a blanket, touching
and softly put away
after today
there will only be the promises
i have kept
that i have loved you
and the time
we walked together.

~

RNH

chest

what the collar bone revealed
in its arching, aching shape
was the ability to bend
and keep bending
and not break...

~

RNH

stick

black soot footprints
left on my heart
little imprints
where you walked
where you had been
left indents
and i tried filling up the spaces
with the remnants
but without trust
nothing would stick.

~

RNH

adversary

he couldn't admit that he was wrong
and she couldn't admit that she was afraid
and so they each stood at the edge of their principles
fighting the free fall
one and the same.

~

RNH

the bottom line

the witness covered one eye and swore
that what he saw was something else
and not the truth
and not the way
things actually existed
in his world
the frame bent, the lens
twisted
calling out
A  Z  2  F.

~

RNH

thin spoon

eating that rainbow you spoke of
that happiness, you choked on
gagged on the promises
blank
faced
i emptied
every bowl and spoon
to my thin lips
holding nothing feeling
every pang.

~

RNH

stranger

looking in the wrong direction
i did not see you
careening around the corner
ear to the curb
before i could blink
i surrendered
before i could cross
i bled out.

~

RNH

lethal

i knew that you were venomous
and i swam toward you anyway
hoping my antidote
previous, saturated toxicity
would survive another
lethal
dose of you
thinking one kind of survival
would sanctify the next
i learned
by dying
that you were
no different.

~

RNH

dig

rolled the boulder
grief like clay, it stuck
to every surface and clung
its muddy bitterness
coating each precipice
as if the situation
was not jagged enough
doubt ripped through, i
dug my toes in, thrust my shoulder forward
and did not give up
when it most overwhelmed.

~

RNH

tidal

dotted line to the shore
where the beach washed over
each feeling
a collapsing vertigo
crept up, cascaded, irreverent
to what you said
and what you hoped for.

~

RNH

sliver

beaded ceiling curls
wet with honesty, i think
but warped with opinion
slivers
peel back the pain
it delivered
such distortion
i could not see the edge
when i fell.

~

RNH