dust cloud

heard through closed
eye lids
the news
hitting
like soft clay dirt on uniforms
powder
rising
tears, instead of joy
sadness, instead of success
the eventual
loss of life
screaming through silence.

~

RNH

ambi-

when her right
elbow turned
purple, pink
and blue
she kept it sling-like
to her side
and switched
to her other hand
the spoon.

~

RNH

cast

i think some famous guy said
something about he
among you who is
without
sin, let him
cast the first
something something...

~

RNH

full of it

i would rather be an honest
"sinning"
bisexual
than a hypocrite
full of faith.

~

RNH

what exists

i am not afraid of my shadow
why are you ?
i am not afraid of what exists
within me
my scars
are my proof.

~

RNH

attacking with blindfolds

be careful who you blindly
hate
it might be someone you
love, but have yet
to understand.

~

RNH

textbook speak

studying allusions
brain to textbook
images like math
shape plus content plus two inches
equals
a frame in your l-shaped ideas
and safety-
pinned sentences
i slap
the broken cliche out of every
comma you speak.

~

RNH

the dam

built up stones
to hold back the water
plastering mud
to seal it in place
hands pressed to fortress
the rising, black spirals
swept away
when you triggered
your finger
in one place.

~

RNH

butterfly man

filaments of wings
littered the countertop
dissected minuscule man
fleshy body torn
down segmented lines

this i will believe in

this i will not.

~

RNH

free

an empty glass
on a table, free
from picture frames and memory
filled trinkets
turns to examine
itself
in trailing
shadows, in violent
dreams.

~

RNH

miraculous

witness to the miracle
the snow in May
the belief in deep shrouds
of doubt
unmasking the ominous
cloud that cannot keep
each tiny hope
from sparkling.

~

RNH

simple circles

i can do without most
the costumes and the lights
but what i need most
evaporates
the truth
from subtle, simple features.

~

RNH

squirrel !

he called them, "squirrel moments"
the times when his brain would scatter
memories like peanuts rolling
down a steep hill
chasing after the kernels' zig-zags...

~

RNH

through the amber

Can I be selfish with you ?
He asked, through the amber
curtains of her hair.
Taking her soft,
scoops of breath
as an answer.

~

RNH

afternoon rose

afternoon rose
with a pink tint
she glowed
looking only toward the line
where road and sunset
came together...

~

RNH

silk

when the woods enveloped the light

the velvet branches embracing the night

the moon alone

full, round and bright

illuminated the blue silk of heaven.

~

RNH

Loch Ness

you were not a buoy
you were a dark
and violent sea, thrashing
with ten long tentacled
arms not to hold me
but sabotage
any effort to find shore.

~

RNH

stitching

it didn't look like much
but the new tape held
and the old adhesive fell away
the wound with so much
left to say
mumbling, tinkering over
the gently bending thought
to the sewn-
together suture
stitching the hurt away
stitching...

~

RNH

test

dipped a toe
into the pool of trepidation
forever testing out the waters
expecting shark
for every fin...

~

RNH

tremendous

caught in the downpour
we count not
the minutes in the rain
instead, we open up
our sails and rise
upon the waves...

~

RNH

Terrier

grabbing the pillow, he
wriggles back and forth
feigns at growling
joyful, bowing
with ears uplifted
places toy
at feet.

~

RNH

shock

on tenth street
and seventh, i
saw
you, too.

~

RNH

settle

took some time to settle
three days later
i let go, wandered
and refocused
pausing around those
tiny seeds i planted
eager to care for them
eager to grow.

~

RNH

contenders

cloth balls up in frustrated
hands, crumpled
tissues litter
the dark maple nightstand, sitting
you search
for conclusions that will always
provide zero possible
answers
spinning and gathering
like a storm.

~

RNH

red lights

a cautionary tale
against pushing small, unlabeled
buttons
raised tracks
warning, barreling
anger
ahead...

~

RNH

cocoon

the curl of perfume behind her ears
she tucked her chin into his chest
and watched his shoulders, rib cage
lift
as she exhaled and he
breathed in.

~

RNH

attuned

he paused over the guitar
to tune a string and reassure
a note that it was still
the sound it should be
feeling her tawny
eyes on him.

~

RNH

mist

shaking off the fog of sleep
a glittery haze lifts from the shoulders
and sprinkles down into the diagonal
light looking
for a corner to linger in...

~

RNH

breaking ground

uprooted, endeavoring
to dig down into new ground
reaching out
reaching
for what has already been
severed...

~

RNH

needle

killing time with a slow
needle pointing north
every second pulsing
with the thought
of her.

~

RNH

empathy

so many broken
people have walked through
my life and i held
them, though they did not
wish to heal.

~

RNH

the experience

he said the experience was like
a fist fight
walking clean from a wrestling
match, standing
but sore and still bleeding
with one eye shut, swollen
with regret and still seeing
the effects
of one damaged heart loving
another.

~

RNH

a dedicated line

there was a dedicated line
between your voice and mine
and no matter how i unraveled
i could not cut
cut
the cord.

~

RNH

warriors

tell me about your story
tell me about the wars you've fought
and the battles you've lost
the giants, the ogres, and the monsters
in the mind's
eye that turned from enemy
to self and then
enemy, again
sword to the dragon within
unable to recognize the hero
until you had to
fight
just for the words to come out
a small war
just to talk about
the nightmares that you've lived through
behind knowing, gentle
expressions, the sting
of red
scars still healing
tell me how you fight
to preserve the feeling
to continue to be
open, trusting, and forgiving
even of yourself
tell me the darkness is not the only
sky I will see.

~

RNH

awash

salt water tinged blank paper
splash of missing
you, i wash each tender
memory in water
staining each word to page...

~

RNH

room for more

love should not be an
either/or
it should be an
and...
and...
and...

~

RNH

partner

he pressed his palm to her belly
the small one moved
a wiggle of recognition
and a broad smile stretched
across his young face, happy
to be found and belonging
to her.

~

RNH

foil

my face might give me away
feelings transparent, hardly
but a vibrant floating happy yellow
Mylar, and the lighter
looks of others sweep
right past me
when i am looking, i am looking
for you.

~

RNH

statue

his profile, familiar
a constant
reminder that some things
never change, their outline
consistent with the impact
of experience and the force
of lived trial and error, every success
and failure
a small line, visible
on the forehead or corner
of a smile.

~

RNH

ghost

there was a whisper from the past
and it blew open a door
and the wind whipped through her hair
wincing, she
pressed down the ends of her dress
and as instantaneously,
the door shut
the wind quit
and the memory stood
there simply
waiting to be greeted.

~

RNH

flipbook

you liked me straight
and to the point
i liked your meandering,
wandering passages
and when i looked down
and flipped
through the peripheral
you struck me, while i still
held onto your edges.

~

RNH

joint love

twirled the tiny ring to you

the gold circle glinting

between my fingers 

and yours

a thin radius, the joint

mutual affection

for each other

how i never knew

til i asked you, how you never knew

til we kissed.

~

RNH

new bud

the green
did not disappear in the morning
but rather, grew around her
branches embracing
and when the morning fog lifted
she warmed
with the sky
orange, pink and gold.

~

RNH

tonality

raindrops turned into rivers
single sentences to whirlpools
spirals of unspoken
desires breaking into an icy
flood,
cycles
gathering momentum
push, pulsing
with your low voice
pressed lips to exposed throat, i hear
your vulnerability
clearly.

~

RNH