Poison Slurry (Day 240)

your words  they lie 

as well as 

sit  a pale egg 

unhatched 

the poison slurry 

fills the cracks

appalling  we are 

spit-and-polish 

egos  where a small 

few head 

he goes all in  

they follow even unto

silver-plated truth he 

traded in 

exchange for 

long-since missing wits

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: StockSnap

Our Heroes (Day 214)

Are you, our heroes,

tumbling into dull despair?

Forgetting how 

the ripest fruits are worth 

the highest price?

Don’t fear the flashing 

lights that wake your 

bedroom walls at night.

Don’t gauge the value 

of the prize 

on the violence of the fight.

Do you recall how 

those you followed, 

merrily, shook with mirth—

imagining, with lust, 

the day the meek receive 

the Earth?

Allow the sky its blue, and 

clouds their varied shades,

your voice to shout 

your truth, authentic 

love to win the day.

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: Parade for returning Apollo 11 astronauts, NASA

Are You the Same (Day 213)

are you 

the same one

or did i succumb  

to thin gray sleep 

at dawn  and dream

your name 

look back 

at the day  drawn 

bright  askew

how  in the damp 

blue evening 

we can be 

the light

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: Antietam Battlefield, Robshenk

Remembering (Day 212)

Sing the robins  silver clouds 

dancing on the ceiling  there 

glancing through my window shrouds 

fairies spin in gentle prayer 

above the moaning  laughing throng

you arrive  fragile and sweet

played dolce  piercing a forte song

a clarinet weeps on a city street

memories dulled with exacting care

dreams worn soft as fine old lace

emboldened  wings beat at the air

sip teardrops  daintily  from my face

outside  a crowd  a protest  singing

inside  one soul  remembering

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: B W Townsend

I Can't Express (Day 208)

Your eyes   I can’t 

express  recall

myself another story 

it’s not always fair 

to see 

where were you

heading to shine 

let me light 

your path

through the forest

at night   how can 

we all exist 

in a world 

so full  so full

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: StockSnap

Generous Hearts (Day 197)

Generous hearts sigh heavenly

above a vengeful wreck,

alchemy draws awe from ice

eager, crackling spring

reveals infant pity, curled 

a nautilus of frozen hope

belligerence and boredom stilled 

unwilling, marble cries 

brittle joy, unsatisfied

cruelty’s fronds unfurl,

smoke rings stain a golden sky

filigree shrouds a violet pearl

brave new winter looms beyond

cicada evenings soft and long

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: Karsten Paulick

Beyond Caring (Day 195)

Beyond caring 

Who made more

Of an effort

We passed the book

Back and forth

Copying without 

Understanding

Answering questions

Without learning 

The answers

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

At the End of the Pier (Day 194)

Sitting at the end of the pier, 

you and I shared a coke, 

our feet dangling in midair. 

We inhaled the faint mist rising 

from the water, which flowed 

with the tide, left-to-right, below us, 

and imagined boats drifting past, 

carrying people we glimpsed 

on the news, people without 

homes, some running from, some 

running toward. Then, we fell silent, 

as children do, who, like refugees, 

carry little sense of power, helpless 

in the face of pain and despair, 

never realizing that we, hands tied, 

offered more than the entire city behind 

us—hearts in our hands, ready to give 

or to take, as the situation required. 

(c) 2017, by Hannah Six

Image: Alcatraz Sunrise, by Tony Webster