Two Mourning Doves

Two mourning doves
Perched side by side
on a chain link fence
like lovers on a park bench.
They stare into the sun over still water reservoir,
behind them the California freeway roars--

rubber turns,

diesel burns,
stomachs yearn for evening meals.
Are they oblivious to the chaos
or just unconcerned?
These two--
With shared view
Ignore the din
'til it is only them.

-Hope A. Horner

Copyright 2022. No use without permission

Last Night

I woke up crying last night
yelling at you
eye to eye
covers around me
shards of light
slicing through the darkness.

When I asked you to leave,
I wish I had done it with more force
instead of wimpering like a dog
and telling you this is how it had to be
because I was too afraid to say how I really felt
How you disappoint
How you disrespect
How you disappear
How I know where you go
when you do
what you do
I can smell it --
the long, gray smoke that follows you like
a spirit
It clouds your eyes
Until
You cannot see what you are becoming;
WHO you are becoming!
I yelled all that
Last Night.
Unlike
the actual day.
The one you thought would never come and the one
I knew probably would
The one where your hands shook and your voice was thin
You said
It's not what you think.
And I said
Wait until tomorrow.
It's not wise to talk when we are upset.
But we did speak
The next day, in long heavy steps on the black top, side by side
So we didn't have to look eye to eye
And I said--
Oh, I can't remember it all now.
Only I must not have said enough
Or said it the way I should have
then
I must have left it hanging out there
like a partially filled cartoon bubble
Because last night
I filled that bubble full of exclamation points
Until it burst.


Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2013-2017. Use with permission only. Contact author on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hopeh1122 Follow on Twitter @HopeNote

Five Things

Write down the five of things you hear today, he said
the wind in the maples
the clink of a metal gate
horses as they nip at each other
hawks screaming overhead
the sound of your feet on the dirt path as you walk into the canyon.
The silence is priceless.
The dust?
Golden.
You can have a big house in the city with noise and chatter
or a little house in the canyon with oaks and rattlesnakes
Write down the five things you hear today, he said.
You may not even get to five.


Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2015. Use with permission only. Contact author on hotmail at hopeh1122 or follow on Twitter @HopeNote

Treasure

You held on in shallow tide pool
beneath the salty tidal sting--
and fading pink light
pinned
pressed
by sharp heavy rocks,
weathered
but unbroken.
Then, 
discovered
uncovered
you are lifted
by gentle fingers,
carried in warm palm,
treated like treasure.


Copyright 2014 by Hope A. Horner
http://www.HopeHorner.com
Offline use by permission only. 

Purpose

The wind comes in the fall
with purpose --

to break 
          the brown,
dislodge
          the dead,
throw down.
Wind
Cold
Gutters the gold.
Santa Anas whip 
to strip limbs bare--
barren branches left to cope
in winter wait 
for blossoms of hope.





Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2014. Use with permission only.
Contact author on gmail at hopeh1122.
Follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/HopeNote

Familiar

From familiar hills You come--
Brushing nostalgic slopes, 
Once green velvet, now dormant and dry.

You come 
Quiet like the wind
Radiant, 
Encircling,
Slicing through childhood canyons
Treading sacred paths
Scattering flowers
Moving clouds
Tipping the light out of your eyes.
You come--
Familiar,
Like home.



Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2014. Use with permission only. Contact author on gmail at hopeh1122
Follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/HopeNote

Release

Click
       of release

                    into the open

Leap
      of joy
             to break free

Bolt
     of happiness
                     to not be broken

Flash
       of recognition
                          "This is me."





Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2014.
Contact author on gmail at hopeh1122
Follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/hopenote

The Janitor

Hola amiga
I said
I was late for a meeting
Click click click
My heels on the shiny linoleum
City hall dark except for the hallway
Hola amiga
She replied holding open the bathroom door with her foot.
Como estas? I asked.
Tired she said.
Mucho trabajo.
You work everyday? I asked.
Si
She picked up a towel;
Her hands were thicker than mine
Her face older
Everyday? I ask
Here, 6 to 2 she said.
Then I clean houses in the day
Take care of boy in the night
Her trail of tools was long
A mop
A broom
A box of blue, green, yellow bottles
A bucket of rags and sponges
A yellow warning sign
CUIDADO
You work on the weekends too? I asked.
She wheeled a large gray trashcan down the hall away from me
Black plastic bags flapping off the sides like flags
I don't have weekends she said.

-Hope A. Horner, 2014. Use with permission only. Follow on Twitter @HopeNote
Contact author on gmail at hopeh1122

In The Drift

She lies back

until
from shore her canoe looks empty,
like driftwood
winding and bobbing
in the wrinkled clear water.
She stares up
into the bold blue background,
admires scattered wisps of white cotton.
Her perfect peace
is interrupted only by the soft
bump
bump
bump
of the smooth gray rocks beneath her,
and the pointed
tap
tap
tap
of the determined woodpeckers above her.
She closes her eyes,
lifts her arms and places her hands
around the smooth wooden edges
of her sliver of hope.


Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2013. Use with permission only. Contact author on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hopeh1122 Follow on Twitter @HopeNote

Sylvia

Sylvia

You know better
Sylvia
The time spent
in the desert

in each other
Between the roses
and the riddles of life,
Too old
to go home
Too young
to make our own
So
we sat
barefoot
in circles
Passing green bottles
Rolling the dice
on what was before us
or
at least what could be seen.
But
Sylvia
You and I
both know
now
It was only a mirage,
a shimmering illusion,
The bounce of light
off metal panels and hubcaps,
Trash on fire.


- Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2013. Online use/forwarding permitted. Offline/print use with permission only. Contact author on Facebook or email on gmail at hopeh1122.

Peek

Peek

She peeks
over the mountain
down the ravine spotted with chapparel
palace palm trees
cactus patches
purple jacaranda
knotted pines bent at the waist before proud oaks.
Her eyes dart like black phoebes
over red brick roof tops
through baked adobe archways embraced by scarlet bouganvilla.
She waits,
silent and white like cotton
for the sun to grow tired and retreat
so she can make her descent
settle in for the night
belly nested in the sand
cuddling the sailboats in the crooks of her arms
stretching her nose
out over the sea
to peek
over the horizon.


-Copyright Hope A. Horner, 2013. Use with permission only.
From Word Windows Poetry: http://www.wordwindows.blogspot.com
Contact author on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/hopeh1122
Follow on Twitter @HopeNote

Drive You Out of My Mind

I have to drive you out of my mind--

press down on the black tar interstate that splits the cactus and the poppies.

Part the opulent heat from here 

to Avenue A.

I have to pull ahead,

left of the pregnant Winnebago with Arizona plates, 

right of the Harley with the patriotic tail,

through the center of sweet water canyon 

brown and grooved like a walnut shell.

I have to pull off--

cross the overpass lined with trash 

and orange suits that bend and bag.

Pause where the signal light blinks—red, gone, red;

Rest my arm on the windowsill of my car.

Exhale acrid exhaust through paper mache lips,

my eyes like marbles in a sand pit.

Red, gone, red.

I proceed.

Pass Foster's Freeze--

a faded blue oasis of locked bathrooms,

plastic umbrellas casting crooked shade, 

french fries filling insatiable pigeons.

I have to pass,

turn on to the gray gravel road that circles your park,

where rust bites its way through posted signs:

No lifeguard on duty!

Dogs must be on leash.

Visitor parking only.

Each square has a number and a lawn like a hot spot on a dog's back--

rough, raw and unkempt.

I have to proceed.

roll by the metal boxes

with floral sheet curtains,

sleepy cats on couch backs

trucks that pout in driveways,

carports that bow their heads in reverence to past snowfalls.

I have to pull over,

Park;

Follow the crushed white stones between the potted plants and pink oleander

up two thick concrete steps to your door.

I have to press--

Press and wait;

bite my lip, study my shoelaces,

pinch the back of my shirt to fan the sweaty circle brought on by vinyl

and a hundred miles 

of driving you out of my mind.

- Copyright Hope A. Horner 2013. Use with permission by author.

Let me know what you think! (Constructive criticism welcome!) 

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