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 Apr 2013 Hank Roberts
Gary Muir
you stuffed the sharpest fragments of your past
deep into the pockets of that green coat
so that they couldn’t pierce you anymore

sometimes in conversation, your hand shifts towards a pocket
I give the gesture attention, so you go ahead and reach in

the memory you pull out, you hold before you like a line-up
I tell you I’m not taking mental-picture mugshots

all I want is to hold the parts of your past that hurt the most
and grace them with my tears

for when I look at you, I see a girl with the courage
to pick the broken fragments of her shattered self off the floor
and piece them back together

I see a girl who dares to ask the deepest questions of life
because she has already been broken
and is not afraid of the answer
 Feb 2012 Hank Roberts
Shukorina
So today, as I was a walking down memory lane
I reached for dreams on tops of trees,
picked memories from shrubbery frames.
I searched for who I might be,
but was shocked and perplexed,
that mysterious part of me,
had not been planted just yet...
 Feb 2012 Hank Roberts
Yenny
I have strayed from you for a long time,
but now I am here.
You are here again too.
Please forgive me for my unseemly crime.
I give you my word, I am here to stay.
Just let me share with you,
one thing I’ve learned on the way.

Look me in the eye, hear my voice
and I will tell you,  
she was here before either you or I.
She lives forever with time,
while eternity passes us by.
She is you,
and she is I.

I wandered for many a year,
thinking I would never find you,
just hoping one day you would appear.
You do not want to know,
all the places I’ve searched high,
or the depths I’ve searched low.

One day, while looking for you, I found her.
She took me, and led me to you,
she knew who I was looking for,
and then at last,
she led me back to myself, anew.

Always revere her,
and trust me she will be found.
You must keep your faith that you will,
or else you will doubt yourself,
and we together will become unsound.

When you find her,
she will take you over all the land,
and give you just a glimpse
of the way of life firsthand.

Looking at her you can’t help but wonder,
where it is within you she emerges from.
Do not fear her, for she means no harm,
your spirit will not be left asunder.
Take comfort in her,
and whatever may come.
 Oct 2011 Hank Roberts
SBohl
Ivy
 Oct 2011 Hank Roberts
SBohl
Ivy
Accidental introduction
Slow destruction
Deceptive beauty
Slow destruction
Accidental introduction

An invasive species
Not something with which to be reckoned
It can not be reversed
Not something with which to be reckoned
An invasive species

Superficial beauty
Brief Enjoyment
Ruinous existence
Brief Enjoyment
Superficial beauty

Tendrils of beauty
Tendrils of expiry
Self contradictory by definition
Tendrils of expiry
Tendrils of beauty

Taking everything needed for continuance of self
Removing what is needed for existence of everything else
Choking a red-faced, forlorn life
Removing what is needed for existence of everything else
Taking everything needed for continuance of self

There is no escape
The reach has extended too far for reversal
All that is left is acceptance of destruction
The reach has extended too far for reversal
There is no escape

There is no escape
 Oct 2011 Hank Roberts
SBohl
If your eyes can hear the words
If you ride phrases to another place
If your heart exhausts itself in submersion

The poem breathes success.

If the words claw at your eyes
If phrases keep you at a distance
If emotion is imbedded between each mark

The poem drowns.

Ring out the tears
and immediate reactions,
Hang out their sources to dry.
Inspiration reflects truer
after a strong wind of patience.
When I came last to Ludlow
Amidst the moonlight pale,
Two friends kept step beside me,
Two honest friends and hale.

Now **** lies long in the churchyard,
And Ned lies long in jail,
And I come home to Ludlow
Amidst the moonlight pale.
 Jul 2011 Hank Roberts
JJ Hutton
Rachel’s hair, black as ink,
splatters my blank skin.
It’s a rewrite for bad readers,
a stroll for quick-to screamers,
a phone call at 3 a.m., and
a sickening high that just won’t end.


Rachel’s teeth, sharp/jagged like littered glass shards,
dig into my aged, faintly seasoned flesh.
It’s a feast for lazy vultures,
an eyesore for devout heathens,
a dusty revolver on a Sunday, and
a lone drunk at a flybuzz wedding.

Rachel’s soul, battering ram/sputtering mad,
dilutes toxic mine, leaves only the rind.
It’s a constant reminder for dangerous nostalgia,
a blanket smoldering in fire within winter-without-end,
a handshake and a heart attack for closest kin,
an elevation, a joyous atomic cloud, and
a sky crying elative confetti tears of future me.
 Aug 2010 Hank Roberts
Irene S
i step, i step
tread on, keep on pulling.
turn, turn, lift the load
and step step again
bow down and stand tall
head on my hands
mind in the box
use your eyes and your mouth
swallow, sip, swallow, sip
sit down and stand up
eye roll and walk on
step, step
use your eyes
bow down and stand up
tread on, keep on pulling
sigh and an eyeroll
play along, tread on
i step step
i tread on
i step step again
i bow down and stand tall
and that will be all
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