She had no idea
What she looked like
Until she found herself on paper

She was no longer
Just a collection
Of cells, skins, and thoughts
Limited by
Where she ended
And the world began

Words on paper
Turned her insides out
And the outside entered in

This is how she entered the world
On paper

It began with a poem, from a stranger
The poet's despair, hope, and bliss
Whispered to her own despair, hope, and bliss
The truth of another
Unlocked the truth of her own

Then she dreamt the dreams
Of her most distant ancestors
Her world stretching bigger

The trees began to inhabit her
The truth of their roots
Rooting within her

Writing
Unlocked the secrets of Strangers,
The Secrets of her ancestors
And the Secrets of Mother Nature
And she found herself there
She shared their truths

First she found herself on paper
Then she found herself in the world

It's when the sun sinks down
When the coyotes start to howl

I feel my thoughts knotting and rising
The web in my brain spreading, criticizing

I want to lull into a sleep so white
That the thinking can't hold tight

Its the time of night
While the world sleeps tight

My body feels the weight
Of my minds loud awake state

"Anywhere but here"
But taking the first step
To going anywhere
Means I must first learn to be here

My insides are raging
Like my feelings are on fire
From my fingertips to my toes
Untempered, this flame will be dire

The way I see it now
Is that if I share my feelings
They can make me fly
But if I keep them to myself
My own fire might burn me
Until I die

I go up in a flash of flames
I'm afraid my feelings will burn me
They are so painful
I feel like I can't just be

So I fly with my flames
Instead of just fighting the truth and sitting
I share my light with the world
Instead of flames just licking and spitting

I resurrect from this hole
Like a Phoenix, I  light the sky
My flames turn darkness to light
So from fire, I fly*

~JLH~

I stand sadly on my board
Pawns stand small
Limited to only what we can afford
Knights stand tall

I am caged by squares of black and white
The silent world choking before falling south
Just as I begin to see the thunder and light
Words splitting the seal of my wooden mouth

The squares begin to shift
My tiny sealed heart aches
The squares move and rift
The Knights raise the stakes

We are powerless
We have been told
Small and made-to-miss
Game ends and we fold

I am waiting for my White Knight
I hold no meaning
I can't hold any fight
But the Pawn across me sits gleaning

I shift towards him
In bubbling hope
I extend my limb
We meet like a tightrope

Suddenly I am not waiting
For a White Knight
Pawns shifting and skating
We move and unite

Now I know
I am not alone
I am one with this throw
Who would have known

I am a piece of a whole
Far bigger than myself
I have a soul
Like a book on a bookshelf

If you pull just one away
They all fall apart
Each with their own story to say
All connected by heart

No more sadly waiting for
The heroic White Knight
We are ready to soar
We are born a Blue Knight

~JLH~

She was dropping
Rotating in cartwheels
Spinning in the glass blue air
The kind of blue that made
Alice want to **** in her lungs
Just to be graced
By inhaling the trance
Of a color so divine

But then she
Landed with a hard thud
Inside a Box
Made of Glass
So clear and clean
Like if it were human
It wouldn't be
Capable of telling a lie
It could do not wrong

But then the glass
Began closing in
First the ceiling
Pushing down on her
Her golden ribbons of hair
And the glass sides closing in
Squeezing her like
Like an old-fashioned corset

And then a hand reached for her
Pulling her
Like a cloud fiercely
Pulling across the sky
During the heat of a storm
It was a man's hand
Callused and strong
Locked in hers
Intertwined like
The the knot of a rope

Next she was lying breathless
Lying in a bed of green blades of grass
Surrounded by wishes of dandelions
Waiting to blown into their magic
Staring into the grey blue eyes
Of the hand that saved her

"What happened"
She said staring at him
"It all closed in on me"

"No" he responded
"You became too strong
You outgrew the glass
And it doesn't shatter
Sadly
Just like some people
It wants to confine you"

"So you have to move
The walls weren't getting smaller
Your heart, your mind, your soul
Grew too strong
So nothing closed in
You grew out"

Once Upon a Time
There was a little Wooden Spool of Yarn
Covered in Layers of Coats
Of Soft Protective Yarn
Protecting its insides

Everyone kept telling
The special Ball of Yarn
How pretty its layers were
How its yarn was prettier than
Any other color on the shelf
And if it fell from the shelf
Its pretty coats would protect it

Except one day it fell from the shelf
Hitting other shelves along the way
And the rest of ***** of Yarn spectating
Stared in disbelief
Because the coats of the Pretty Ball of Yarn
Weren't protecting the
It like they had anticipated

In fact
It had begun unravelling
Becoming Undone
It unwound and unwound
Across the concrete Floor
Yarn stretched like
Lines of a ruined and strewn apart coat
Until all that was left of it
Was a little wooden heart
At the center

The other Yarns of Wool
Stared in disbelief
How could this Yarn of Wool
Survive without his coats of Yarn

"He's broken"
They said

But slowly
Over days
His wooden heart began to grow
So strong that he didn't need a coat

He looked up and said
"This whole time I was wrapped in Cotton Wool
Layers of protection and defense
I couldn't touch the rest of the world
And now the excess is gone
All that is left is my heart
And it might be broken
Because I Broke from the Fall
But now I realize I didn't need
The capes and coats and excess
The wool wasn't me
What is me, is what remains
And now I can touch the rest of the universe
Because
"The heart that breaks open is the heart that  can contain the universe" (Melton)

The world broke me open
And it hurt
But I don't want to go back
To being sealed shut from the universe
Even if it hurts at first
Its worth breaking to rebuild
So now I my heart is big enough
To contain the universe"*

~JLH