Three: Haiku, Tiny Poem, Multiple Choice

Does it hurt the moon
when it snags on a bare branch
and is split in two?
*******

Snowflakes
surprised
they are falling,
*******

Multiple Choice

Alexithymia is:
A) a Greek  island
B) fear of people named Alex
C) poor awareness and understanding of emotions
D) a section of the brain

Correct answer: C. Not sure how I feel about that.

A.H.

Radical Right-here-ness

Decided to practice
radical righthereness
as antidote to
overwhelmtion
using presence
to pierce
fog of fretfulness.
Radical righthereness
snapshots:
see the snow
lacing the trees,
feel the movement
and muscles while gyming,
watch Oscar's tail
curve into a comma.
Right here,
right now,
only this.

A.H.

A Good Man Gone - for our friend Robin*

Told our cat

that his buddy Robin

wouldn’t be back,

ever.

Think Tom understood,

stayed close,

seeking solace.

Suspect Robin,

being a statistician,

always knew

the odds were poor –

the diagnosis last spring:

colon cancer with metastatsis.

Rounds of chemo,

hospitalizations, weight loss,

Thin to start,

became gaunt.

Robin crossed paths

with my very ill brother-in-law,

sharing a rehab. center,

was kind to Roger

in what became

Roger’s last days.

This is what

was there

as Robin faded -

a core of kindness.

He was a good man

and he is gone.

* John's colleague - and our friend - Robin Reich died on January 3rd. Robin (Dr. Reich) taught statistics at Colorado State University. We were fortunate to have him visit us in Alaska many times and he would "commit science" at our kitchen table. 

Special gratitude to Robin's dear friend Vanessa.

Goodbye 2015

A fierce wind
howled thru 2015
uprooting untethered
words and worries
flinging them
against the end
of the year.
Now the sad scraps
and tattered bits
cling to the barrier,
dregs of 2015.
But look back there -
see the shiny spots
where the wind-whipped grit
scoured places clean,
an almost sparkle.

A.H.

Random Acts of Writing - Three Shorts

Christmas Morning

Nestled in bed

drowsy and drifting,

soon will break

the shell of sleep,

crack open

a new day,

the dew of dreams

drying quickly

as I emerge

to unwrap

this day.

******

Retro Words

I swoon

about swell,

take a shine

to keen.

******

Solstice Haiku

Light and dark stand still

on this cold December day

before light takes lead.

A.H.

An Unpolished Heart (for John on our 10th Wedding Anniversary)

Wish I had

a polished heart,

all sweetness, light

and butterflies.

This is not my heart.

Ratty, scraggly,

broken, scarred,

patched –

this being Alaska,

with duct tape.

This is my heart.

Thank you

for handling

my imperfect,

unpolished heart

with care

and love.

A.H. 

Witness at Woronzof

Battered and broken,
many didn't
survive the storm.

This is depression:
stuck in the mud,
weather coming in,
I can't move.

Wind and ice
at Woronzof,
this drab day.

This is depression:
it is gray,
it always has been
and always will be.

Next summer
I will come here
on a day fat with light
grayness gone
but I will always carry
a piece of ice
that never melts.

A.H.
Note: Artist Sarah Davies. along with volunteers, did a public art installation at Point Woronzof in Anchorage. She created life-size figures representing people struggling with depression and other difficulties. The artwork is in response to her own experience with depression.
Soon after installation high tides and severe wind destroyed some of the figures. And so it is...