Bound and blinded (Day 1457)

Even now   bound and blinded 

as we are   now   tired as we are  

even now   dark-winged demands  

and duty   too   backlit against the sky  

cry harshly for their share   and now

I see you   flushed as apricots  

furtive as a fox   crossing a paved road

in full autumn sun   turning 

at my call   was that surprise 

or dread   each in their measure   even

now   silence begs reply   though

you cannot   how duty and demands

cleave and divide   so grim  your smile

for such a gentle child   

others may long to fight  to prove   

to act   but have no script save history  

and we will not make war upon 

those lonesome ghosts   whose shadows 

dim our woods   rivers   and fields   

yet   have we not been   

these past four years (and more)  

surviving   just   this enmity  this dread   

wings beating   backlit against 

a pure white sky   we blink   you vanish 

once   now   and for all   bound 

and blinded   in your own way   alone   

© 2021 by Hannah Six

Have you noticed (Day 1456)

how   each day    

the sun rises 

earlier & sets 

later than it did 

at the same time

four years ago

(c) 2021 by Hannah Six

Haiku for Day 1455

Even now, they brood 

Among their twigs and feathers

Upon a failed egg

(c) 2021 by Hannah Six

Pamplemousse (Day 1454)

sprawled on moon-soaked 

unbuttoning your frown   

I tear you open  midriff prickling 

against a vernal chill   sweet 

hiss of longing bubbling 

toward treetops just tall enough 

to shade the promised blue 

so bitter are your words   bitter

as the grapefruit you peel 

and slice   my tongue’s tip   

sketching each taut membrane   

testing the tart pink flesh  

we ingest worlds and worlds   

until   sated   we spit   

pale seeds a constellation 

against regret-stained ground   

© 2021 by Hannah Six

Rock salt sky (Day 1453)

we are not the elders of our past   

nor the translucent children 

of our tenuous future  

eyeing the rock salt sky   attending 

to the ceaseless hum of duty 

the pervasive chill of isolation   

bearing our invitation   arms   

clutching questions   more than 

can be comfortably carried 

to those ancestors   so familiar   

so alien   whose savagery 

is exceeded only by our own   

whose surprise we cherish   

whose flat gray disdain 

we are incapable of imagining 

© 2021 by Hannah Six

Pig roast (Day 1452)

After the scores were tallied 

they dug deep into a glowing pit 

and exhumed a crackling pig

dissociated from the horrors 

of refined cuisine   the politest

among us averted their eyes

pretending indifference   guests

began to queue   plates in hand  

admiring   laughing   salivating  

each harboring a secret fascination 

with the crisp brown skin

the succulent twist of tail

though it was understood that

the choicest cuts were reserved

for those who paid most

ate least   and departed early

(c) 2021 by Hannah Six

For a friend, already lost (Day 1451)

when you slipped

a feather   a wish

from between the pages

with love   hoping 

for a long catch-up chat 

sometime soon

17 years ago   & longer

patient   ordinary

your upturned face 

delighting in the kindness

of falling snow   the fragility 

of a human heart   

glowed   a garden written 

in smiles   & only tears 

could have dimmed this

powerful light   & I 

want to tell you how no one 

ever has   told me   that   

not since the first   

the only   time   we met 

© 2021 by Hannah Six