Imagine if it cost your whole days
wages, just to feed on bread;

If external forces made you suffer
The indignity of debt.

Imagine if the war torn middle east
Had a minute's silence for fifty dead;

If Palestine,  Iraq, Afghanistan
Had a minute off for breath

Imagine if a days work came with
a twenty percent chance of death...

Now picture that scene in the Caribbean
Bathing, lounging, plunging, dancing

The preciousness of life it seems
is purely based on address.

Quite

But I'm not *blind

I set an empty plate on the other side of the table
I’ve been expecting her all day, the least she could do is show up for dinner
I pour her some wine, I know she hates red
I write a card and lay out some flowers in case it’s something I said

It’s growing late so I lay out all of the dishes
I eat alone and my hopes diminish as I play our song with no one there to hear it
I even made mashed potatoes, her all-time favorite
I put the wrapped box with her name on it where I know she’ll see it

I end up drinking both glasses
Hell why not the bottle
Another year has passed and I can’t bury the sorrow
Of the choice she made not to wake up on the ‘morrow

Is it my fault she left?
She said I just wasn’t enough this time
But I tried my best
I’ve never been able to get the guilt off of my chest

I write my poetry
about the world around
me and the people too.
But when he comes to
mind the words don't
fall into place like I love
the way they do.
The thoughts come slow
and the words even slower.
He's on my mind and
nothing works. My brain
shuts down, my stomach
tightens, my feet go numb.
When he's on my mind.

I hate this feeling not
knowing what to write,
he's on my mind and I
cant get him out.
Why cant I do this!
It's not hard to write!
Love poems are easy!
So why does this hurt?
Nope!
I cant do this,
he's on my mind
and I cant get him out

-H.R.

I don't know why I read all these poems all they do is remind me of you and I hate that. Everyone understands me here and I don't know if that's good or bad. I feel for them and get it and want to help them because if I cant have it they should. I miss you and the poems make me wanna say to you but I still cant. The poems help me sleep at night. Sometimes. I wanna talk to you again even for a bit.The poems get that they get me the poems fill me with emotions I never knew could happen and they're all about you. The poems keep me breathing

-H.R.

People walking all around me
"I'm trapped"
They bump and push me
"I'm not here"
Everyone rushes as I stand
Staring
Staring at the lives and
Staring at the nothing
"I'm lonely"
And when the shakes begin
The words "Are you okay?"
Crash my world around me
The shaking doesn't stop
Even as the hand is on my shoulder
Their eyes pierce through my thoughts
Staring
Staring at me that one in the hallway
The waves pile as they repeat
"Are you okay?"
Maybe louder I did not know
I wanted to run
Fast and far away
But I could not move
My legs were stuck
I fall to the ground
And close my eyes
Darkness surrounds me
This was my escape
The noise seems louder
And I think I hear my name
The darkness keeps me alive
In there
I don't see or think
Just
Nothing
There is nothing
No rushing and walking
Or people staring there is
Nothing
The
Darkness
Is
My
Escape

-H.R.