rotation

two bodies
spun in slow motion, lost
their edges in the embrace
scoop found contour, shape
found a willing frame
and the assembly
of their beings
coalesced.

~

RNH

misunderstand

she asked me: what "mistake" means ?
i said, to "mess up," "misunderstand," "do
something not right"...
as consolation, i offered
that everyone makes mistakes, occasionally
even big
kids, even adults, even
teachers.

~

RNH

cavern

a warning sign jutted from the entrance

as if the cavernous darkness were not enough

to dissuade most from venturing

in few lean with lamp dim

fewer still attempt

to climb through uncertainty and transform

the void into a balanced place.

~

RNH

tinted

hinges
heavy and slack
hangs the spirit full of broken
bottles, green and gold
the glass of crunched light.

~

RNH

lay figure

sandpaper thoughts to some old wound
that person you met six years ago
the one who, Medusa-like, hair in hands, drug
herself through water
the snakes happy for the electricity
the one who craved craze, the one
who followed moons until they, too,
were slivers,
one day woke up
finding the scars an unnecessary
sawdust pool
around her
and refused to allow anyone
to whittle or hollow since then
what only
she had the liberty to create.

~

RNH

tiles

lettered tiles clattered to the ground
a handful spilling from the pocket
of words i
loved to hold inside.

~

RNH

saber

fan to kindled embers
eyelashes built to armor
the hidden
silhouette of a free woman
slides along the bare wall
at the door
only the torch and your teeth.

~

RNH

myriads

the sky folded in myriads
pink to fuchsia to magenta
kissing the horizon with unfurled secrets
the treetops, silent
adoring, in awe.

~

RNH

plunge

with many rivers to cross
you plunge
arms swift, held breath
feet pumping frog pedals
flexed, then long
and through bubbles
moss and mud, you stay
locked on the shore
having dove through many
rivers before, you know
this one,
too, to be traversable.

~

RNH

happy note

a bouquet of daisies, thrown
tossed as exclamation to the moment
a powder puff of dandelions,
and their wishes, punctuate
the day.

~

RNH

lukewarm

i could take apart the space
between her femur and tibia
stretched like gum chewed,
like the gap between her jaw
and mental capacities,
find not much there.

~

RNH

origami bar

ice shuffles and doors creak
eyes sweep from light to shadow
from distinction to individual
blur
years spent wiping hands
on towels
turn
like square, white napkins
into swans.

~

RNH

the wrong place

sometimes the light switches are in the wrong places
the cabinet i open does not reveal what i think
and i reach for a hanger or some other
familiar trigger
and the knob is on the left side
and the zipper fiddles between fingers
that feel for an electric fence
one that might light up when i
least expect it, invisible
the camera flash
of paralysis, the barricade of fight
or flight and the relief
that washes over, when i realize
i am here.

~

RNH

tough girl

she leans her head on my shoulder
i feel the weight of it all sink
through, the sadness, the fear
the constant
on-guard
toughness
and the daily torment
from a few, the weak
small-minded, the easily
vicious, the ones who are always
the loudest
in the room
she sits to my left and for these seconds
i let her rest,
eyes closed, safe with me.

~

RNH

galaxies

they met in every version of the universe
a radiating cloud drawn
toward collision
a glass jar of lightning
littering the ceiling with saffron
diamonds, accidental
and breath-taking.

~

RNH

tomb

there is a hallway full of echoes
at the end, a room of masks
and the faces melt and reshape
false and contour, form and artifice
collapse
the gold paint licks
a shadow, cheekbones
glint, a bridge denotes
oblique black eyes, cold
and the cackling shifting of plaster
lifts and resists
any attempt to be stilled.

~

RNH

Almost Seventy

around the sun
you've sailed for years
without a swoon, the calling
sight of shore, always
as certain as you
perceived it, your course
a direction steady
as your word.

~

RNH

on instinct

you tripped through minefields
and caught your camouflage sleeves
on reaching branches, thieves
disguised as background, honor
hidden in a vest and a buttoned
jacket shields the machinery
that inevitably keeps you
together
the pounding fist
of a conviction, palpable.

~

RNH

intensity

gaze weaves an orb of white
silken lace, the sound
an accessory to what we
understand.

~

RNH

Special

she leaned forward and asked me if
i knew what she wished for, and i said,
tell me.
she wished to be like everyone else.

and as the sting permeated, i spoke,
i know, but this is what makes you special.
and her tilted face sparkled more
than her tears.

~

RNH

invaluable

why would every gift be a burden,
from you, and every consideration
come with price tag adhered
i question such
love for individual sale
and know who taught you
to quarantine the best in you.

~

RNH

sketches

evening crawled under your skin
the setting sun, a ticking bomb
held breath for seconds, millions
of tiny illustrations, like spiders
dancing in your chest.

~

RNH

famous

waiting to be seen
would be an exercise in chicanery
as if you were not already both
flawed and perfect
as if you were not your
shards and still complete.

~

RNH

evidence

papier-mâché bridges trepidatiously
swung
in silent messages, crisscross
of rope under comprehending fingers
and eyes open to the faith, unseen.

~

RNH

Bully

she threw the notebook upon her desk
vibration shaking
braids balanced
high upon her head
and the more classmates she told
to shut up,
or else I'll...
the more I feared for how
her inner voice must sound.

~

RNH

vigil

you said, not on my watch
and while the silverware glistened
tiny particles pulled the sides of the white
lines together
and helped them heal.

~

RNH