Friday, July 21, 2017

Write Your Name

i would write your name in cursive
so you could watch its loops and flow
so you could understand the beauty
in the circle of depth and growth

i would write your name in the glowing sand
so you could marvel at its shine
so you could breathe in wonder at any
soft imprint and let go the pull
of the tide

i would write your name in the drying sidewalk
so you could sink in its permanent
so you could know that the shape
of our choices deeply matters,
and in forming your own, feel content

i would write your name on the windows
the hallways,
the bus stops,
the railcars,
as many times as you need
to be reminded
that you are here--
that you are worthy,
i would write until the invisible is seen.

~

RNH

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

dissolve

under the blanket,
stories wrestle themselves
the wish and the honesty
duking it out
neither wanting the other to be
totally right, and neither
hoping to be wrong, both fixed
on their certainty, and so
the two versions
spar until the moon's rise, dissolve
into a bizarre dream in the morning.

~

RNH

Friday, July 14, 2017

blind

pressed against the glass, you
hear the crackle of wing to ash
and as the filament starts to flicker
you hold in the last seconds, charred
then free.

~

RNH

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

ten-thousand-mouthed

there's a ten-thousand-mouthed monster
and she's tugging at my sleeve, she's lightly
gumming on my fingertips
waiting for a look or fuss from me,
and late at night, when i should be sleeping,
she howls with all
ten-thousand throats,
and when she's hungry, forget the growling
it's the talons that you'll feel the most,
with so many
pointy fangs and dangers, you'd worry
that the love's not worth the pain,
but there's just as many kisses--
one ten-thousand for every day.

~

RNH

by lantern light

three lanterns sway on the horizon,
a twinkling dotted line,
a fastened constellation,
and together, they animate
the tales that you have lived before,
the spirit you embody now,
and the promise toward which you sail.
by the first, may you have grown deep inner strength,
by the second, may you develop clarity,
and by the third light, may all of your dreams be illuminated
like guided stars
fearless of their height...

~

RNH

This Is the Part

This is the part where
things get harder not easier.
This is the part where
loneliness demarcates your sight.
This is the part where
the hours of each evening seem unending.
Where the quiet night unearths you.
Where you discover yourself
rough and dark
and crumbling.
This is the part where grief
corrodes your most cherished memories.
Where fear wails out in anger.
Where the ghosts of harming gather
and chant hypnotically.
This is the part where you
will struggle and choose differently.
Only awake and strong can you
change your path.

~

RNH

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

half there

i stood in the doorway
half there and half leaving
and you shone with the affection
that belongs to the spark of familiarity
and i waited for you to say it
and when you didn't, i hesitated
and as i drove home, i plucked one petal off
at a time.

~

RNH