Thursday, August 13, 2009

a love letter

dear clear lake,
it was never my intention to grow attached to your cattails or whistle guthrie by your flaccid banks. but i have and i do.  i've fallen in your depths, sweet lady - seen belle delight at your holsteins, picked berries under your alders, and conversed patiently with your elders.  i love you and thank you for each kiss of dew across my cheek.  simple and true, my love.  
until tomorrow,
jh

a something

there's a something 
following me
through.

a thud,
bang, or rustle - 
i know its there
as i pick blackberries,
feed belle a bottle,
wash the breakfast bowls.

i hear it, feel it, 
over there,
below me-
like a puppy's nose 
against my ankle

not sure what or why
but i'll keep on 
and hope that it 
does too.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

slaughter

walking up a country road
mirabelle and i encountered
cow slaughter.  

i couldn't protect 
her or i
from this reality,
so i spoke as if i knew
and asked her to tell me
everything.

she said,
"life is,
as death is,
and both are."

and we kept on
as if we were,

but i wasn't sure 
why.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

LOVE LIFE

two men 
said -
love life

one in a song,
the other on
a sign 

"love life"
simply

written 
or said

both men
are true

but fuck if it
ain't false
sometimes.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

tail feathers

wind whipped leaves
and your word 
quivers

no truth
can hide in
your feathers

and you'll wait 
'til the storm 
has passed

to take a stand
but it won't fly
in this nest

anymore.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

wise pop

how are you?
i'm alright, he said
only alright?

it's not that things
aren't well, 
i just want you and belle
to be happy.

we are happy,
just hit a few bumps
in the road today,
that's all

well, if you're happy
then i'm happy,
he said

we held hands and
tears melted 
his soft cheeks

and i knew
what 
he said 
was right.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

love is freedom


"our parents taught us to be careful with glasses and with our bodies. they taught us that the passions of childhood are impossible, that we should trust men in white suits, that people cannot perform miracles, and that no one leaves on a journey without knowing where they are going. break the glass, i thought to myself, because it's a symbolic gesture. try to understand that i have broken many things within myself that were much more important than glass and i'm happy i did. resolve your own internal battle and break the glass."
last night i awoke and walked into the garden's dew. mist collected in my curls and i wept. love came to me and i accepted. the Mother, the Woman, i had met seven years ago returned to my side. above me, showering me with truth, i lay open, gutted from its entirety. i hear you, breathe you, this water and dirt enveloping me is love.
i've been paralyzed with fear - fear of rejection, acceptance, and even success. sometimes i couldn't rise out of bed, under sheets of darkness, disappointment. the sun in my sky was a bruised apple and my heart was swollen with shallow sexual compliments and drunken abatements.
god is love. did you hear me, god is love. but can i give love without the promise of return? without dogmatic repercussions and compulsive hair pulling? can i give it without a "you" to give it to? can i save it for me?
cause damn, i thought my joy, ecstasy came from you. i cried for days when you wouldn't acknowledge, accept my love, you drowned in those blue blankets and i stared out upon the sea of asphalt for your profile in the shadows. but my pyramid was building. brick by brick. and if god created us for love then everything leading us to sadness is of our own doing. own it.
i thought love meant security, a pact against all odds, a commitment. but every promise i've made a mutiny on. and if i fall love, may it be from a high place because i am ready to sit in silence, to jump in the inferno of my own madness and sip the froth.
i knew i wanted this. to break the looking glass that peers out instead of in. i see you sitting there. do you see me?