spirited

pitched on the sea
of tumbling pleas
to stay, wait,
stay, wait
and bounced when the hull hit
crest of the wave split
rose to the next hill
spirit running free... 

~

RNH

worth more

you are delicate
and do not forget it
when the wall of brick
glares
through the window pane
frames your perspective
unchanging, do not let it
determine
one fraction
of your worth.

~

RNH

The Last Word

I want my name to be the last thing that you say.
The last word on your lips.

~

RNH

thrown hard

As my body heaves and grieves for you
As a deep loss, a bleeding wound
From sharpened swords and thrown
Hard knives, I witness
As the seasons, too, will change
and break and heal
and learn to right themselves.

~

RNH

In Every Crowd

And in every crowd, I look for you.
My heart was always yours.

~

RNH

brittle

Oh, uncompromising heart
Let me be...

~

RNH

the two sides of we

no matter which way the boat rolls
you anchor
no matter how hard the surf crashes
i stay
and the volatility that could
lift or destroy
us
makes us incomparable

make us complete

~

RNH

i see a pattern

when i knit my words together
i take both answer and question at once
i understand the gift and the responsibility
the weapon in the silence
the possibility to be wounded
with the truth
so i do not take it lightly
when you smudge with chalky lines
the invisible stitches across my face
a lie
a lie
a lie
a lie...

~

RNH

open sky

she craves the open light of a garden
the fences bending before her eyes
the smell of grass and spring and blossoms
the wild earth beneath her
the rows on each side
of onion, tomato, grape and peanut
roses surrounding the glass and the stone
a place where the sky extends...
as broad as her heart...
as undeniable
as the impulse
to grow.

~

RNH

through grief

we remember and we sustain one another
we forgive and we mend our wounds. 

~

RNH

tooth for tooth

you will not thrash around
because i told you so
you will not stoop to their level
or take an eye for eye
or tooth for tooth
because it suits you
you will not
pick which
reaction to take
like an outfit, when doing the right thing
is so much harder, constant
and permanent
you will let the pain
stain you on the fingers
feel the choices made
as repercussions
as necessary
as inevitable.

~

RNH

equal

if you cannot walk with me
do not
try to hold me back.

~

RNH

ledge

you are the cliff
i keep climbing to the edge.

~

RNH

Paris Love

we met under the spire
in the hazy film of night
with the streetlights burning soft gold
and the streetcars trundling by
the cobblestone beneath our feet
signaled the wobbly
road ahead
and yet we smiled and looped
our fingertips
touching the beginning of a love
that would never end.

~

RNH

the green

the way the green-
leafed branches grow
extending
through the fence
creates within me, the curled
desire to break
free
to flourish
past these walls.

~

RNH

the alarum

arced with the revelation
knowledge as burdensome
as your bundled, cradled
exigencies, i never
believed
in your fiction or your trapeze
the quicksand as crushing, even from up here. 

~

RNH

talisman

you were a talisman
i could not fix
forces shattered in my hands
and with one
long scream
i let you go.

~

RNH