Monday, December 21, 2015

DNA

Have you ever made a list
And thought it an echo
Of a previous itemization
The twist--
That you had not changed too much--
As comical as it was
Clear. 

~

RNH

On Accident

Totaled by the collision
On one side, the heart
The other, the twinkling, spinning
Mind. I wonder
What stopped them before
And why they embrace so
Resonantly now

~

RNH

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Liable

while she hid under her hat,
my quiet gaze traced
along her shoulders,
dropped down to her waist,
and as she stared,
my hungry thoughts
poured upon her lips.

~

RNH

shutters

The double-hinged doors snap
shut, the curtains
pull, the blinds tumble, cognizant
of the seeing
heart
and with lashes pressed
I disassemble every plank and nail
between us.

~

RNH

indomitable

though the fear
may cloud around us,
we will have hope.
though the darkness
endeavors to surround us,
we will seek the light.

~

RNH

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Hallelujah

and the trees
lifted their arms
in the descending sun's glow
as if to say
all at once
Hallelujah.

~

RNH

Monday, December 14, 2015

Stack

The rulers stacked themselves
In precarious, mile-high
Towers of expectations, and the taller
The anticipation, the greater
Clatter of the fall.

~

RNH

Rift

safety waited
in the distance, under slow-branched
trees and reassuring shade
for now,
the uneven road will guide you
nothing to be learned when
everything is smoothly paved. 

~

RNH

sleeping on your side

and at some point, you realize
that both sides
are yours. 

~

RNH

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

One by One

Let the buoyant emotion
Lift under shoulder blades
And satisfy a rib cage's broken
Shuddered breaths
One by one. 

~

RNH

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

zen

the master sat down
and rebraided her hair
let her wrists rest on the v-upturned
bends of her knees, exhaled
deeply and reset
like the pleats on her uniform and the bamboo
pieces
in the thatched roof.

~

RNH

sacrificial

you are not to be sacrificed
you are not an offering
of chopped muscle on a plate
you are not a sweet-smelling thing
to be burned
you are not a chest of treasure
you are not piles of gold
there is no many-zeroed ransom
for your multidimensional persona
and your love should be a freely
given affection
and unmistakable, its worth.

~

RNH

the closing side

when the anger, like an envelope
attempts to stick each corner
to the closing side, i
writhe my way out of its convincing
grip and speak
the truths that perfuse these lines.

~

RNH