Shaking Hands with the Dead
A childhood tale
The leaves are
quite still
And hold dimpled
moonlight in their folds
We are fearful of
the dark
And the terrible
silence beyond our path
Our footsteps fall
in unison,
Moving forever
forward without wavering
Shadows appear
near an incline
And we lean into
one another with ghost troubles
Now we can hear
water bubbling over rocks
And a faint light
appears
There is a gentle
bend where we can wade
Through shallow
spots to the other shore
Holding hands, we
move into something new;
An adventure with
no attached secrets
And again, a
distant light flicks
Somewhere beyond
the empty stars
Dancing Without Music
Darkness slips
Through empty
hands
As we cruise and
run wild
Through un-sacred
streets
Dreaming in
pastoral blue
We avoid puddles
and cobblestone riddles
There are missing
pieces in the puzzle
Like distant
lovers from antiquated novels
The books litter
my rooms
And we need a new
game to play
Empty Rooms
He sits by the
window
watching the rain
fall
He remains silent
above
all that would give
voice
Turning the dial
on the current
situation, nothing
could be further
than the next
aisle
Far beyond the
cool, and broken
guitar picks, he
remains focused
on letting go
Learning to move
on
Richard D. Houff edited Heeltap Magazine and Pariah Press Books from 1986 to 2010. He is also a journalist that is comfortable in writing both poetry and prose. His work has been published in Academic and Arts Review, Big Hammer, Brooklyn Review, Chiron Review, Conduit, Louisiana Review, Midwest Quarterly, North American Review, Parnassus, Rattle, San Fernando Quarterly, and many other fine magazines. His most recent poetry collections are Night Watch and Other Hometown Favorites, from Black Cat Moon Press (2016), The Wonderful Farm and Other Gone Poems, from Flutter Press (2017), and Dancing on Rooftops, from Homage Press (2019) Czech Republic.
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