Allium

she peels
shameless

a gift beneath
wrinkled paper skin
translucent layersdeceive;

she stings -
sharp, pungent
cleansing

Revival

don't go to the preacher,
rabbi, priest;
unless you need a fable

messy and fractured
they have all thrown
random lassos to the skies
to capture meaning

as if word and thought,
numbered and varied as stars that
emerge and die each moment,
can be pulled down
and sorted like stones

the infinite expands within;
borne of light and particles
you will never see
but can never explain away -
an internal law of physics

you have draped your
self in a circus tent -

take the heavy-bladed knife
in either hand and plunge;

you are your own revival

Hallelujah

I am a glorious round and green sweet pea
on your tongue you roll me

savor me, taste -
take skin from the meat

honor the pulpy
earth in me

accept me for
the pea I be

Feature Length

I'm late
because
I stopped to
write a poem

because
last night
sleep
was tiring

dreams
fidgety, a
day's worth
of stories

personal
film noir;
edgy and
precise

grainy and ugly
in the mirror
this morning

I've had too
much of me

I'm late
because
I stopped
to write a poem

because
sometimes
its the only
thing to do

Heather Reed 1/31/07

Control Freak

you come out
of nowhere

a place outside of
the moments I choose
to live in

like the full moon I feel
but forget until it's
right before my eyes

you sneak up
on my blind side;
sitting cross-legged
in the corner,
playing with your
pins and strings

devoid of good
intentions

Heather Reed 2/1/07

Detta - 1968

black enameled
stairs, worn
with sorrow
climbed solemn
to a second floor

her small room
sat back, tucked
within an alcove
a bright tiny space

pink chenille
remembered
her weight -
dancing legs,
laughter like
sudden joy

when I arrived
the sacred heart
was still smiling -
but even
the floorboards
missed her

the only light
in a dark house

For a Stranger

at some point
cells decided
to divide;
a greedy,
molecular army

knives and hands
do battle against
what is unseen;
an invisible
invasive foe

Thursday came

he was happy
just to get out of -
his four walls
the new battle

it didn't matter
that no one knew
what to say

drugs numb
the skin, tender
around the incision

but are worthless
at helping him
maintain small talk,
make conversation

his mind walks
the line inside -
pacing with anger,
dread, fear, and
resolve at better
moments

again, intangible

I visualize the
small army
disintegrating

moving away,
pulling back,
dissolving

it's the least I can do

:hrr

No Title

I am trying to draw;

post cards and layers of scribbled
mess and paper cover the table -
there for inspiration as if
it were easy, as if its what I do
every day

four days I have thought and worked;
no closer to a decision than I was a week ago

poetry is nothing like this; it invades me -
a possessive lover sneaking up behind

words fall through the top of my head
like coffee drip-drip-dripping
into my morning pot

they hang heavy in the steam
of my morning shower,
taunting me

I capture them on the mirror,
half-wet and shivering,
only to lose them by the time
I’ve dressed

words are my art

traveling through me like
a brush or pencil put to paper

breaking through to my finger tips,
like tears, lightening bolts, or flowers

I wish I could draw them

Rapture

lips soft small smile

sweetly kiss fingers 

your mouth whispers 

here love 

any words are 

everything to set me 

smiling larger as I melt 

like smiles in eyes 

that see me as 

Botticelli may have 

your laugh as beauteous a sound 

as the prayer he made on wood 

Jade Tree Me

I am succulent
holding water
when skies refuse
a gift of sun, rain
anything certain
thick to the core,
self-sufficiently
rooted in what
I need
fleshy, whole,
lushly green
from within
I only need a little;
just a little...

Any Girl

she wears
the wild
discreetly

branded
on the inside;
no one knows
(so no one knows)

her shortest
walk is to
the edge

curiosity
ragged
like need

invisible,
persistent

the ink
still bleeds

Heather Reed 2006

Exposure

the eye that
is my mind
blinks;

a camera's
shutter I can't
control

unfiltered, captured
committed before
there's time to
turn away

internally,
I am part darkroom

processing, soaking
sifting in solution

with resolution
comes clarity,
without -
the pain of
wasted effort

beauty lost,
what I might
have learned
vanished, erased

still the absence of
remains;
committed to
my internal paper

Weight

he asked me once
how is it you can
carry all this -
this weight
upon your back

figuratively,
or as metaphor-
neither matters

what he sees
is smoke and mirrors,
I fool so many

my heart today gray
with restriction

grace and ease-
peace of mind
elusive as the wisp
of song on someone's
radio, blocks away