Layers

.

She keeps it in a wooden box

between soft layers of cotton —

the arrowhead

he found in the desert.

It still bears his fingerprints —

invisible, like the many poems

she composes in her head

but never writes,

.

poems she sends

across the valley

hoping they’ll lodge

in his dreams

some heavy night.

.

She imagines them

circling his body

like halos of concentric light,

or perhaps brushing his face

with kisses

silky as a feather.

.

But then, like the arrowhead

she draws them home again

tucking them safely away —

sonnets nestled in her soul

between reluctant layers

of silence.

.

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© 2014, 2020 Betty Hayes Albright

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(A re-post from 2014)

.

I hope everyone is staying well out there. Will try to catch up with you all soon. ❤

.

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Wist

.

It doesn’t seem

that long ago

you came

but could not stay.

.

Our paths were crossed

and time got lost –

seems only yesterday, and yet

.

the moon still beams

and waxes full

above the sea

beyond the knoll

.

where we grew young

so long ago

when Eros came to play.

.

.

© 2019  Betty Hayes Albright

.

(Just another entropic scribble.  🙂  )

.

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Grace

.

She dammed her feelings

for him

with a bone cork

and Earth became

a rocking jug

with aching sides

and tears

that leaked through cracks

.

and there was naught

but a dry, brown light

across the sky.

.

And when the gods looked down

they cursed the plug

and ground it to dust

with their fists.

.

Earth shuddered

and roared

in a great awakening

of heat and light

.

until at last

there rose

in her breast

the endless rainbow fount

of love undamned.

.

(c)  1995, 2019  Betty Hayes Albright

.

(Revision of an oldie, first posted in 2011.)

.

 

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It Won’t be Long

.

Many years ago

and still

you’re with me

in the silent deep

.

where time spins faster

before our eyes –

.

it won’t be long

until that blur

is just a knowing smile.

.

.

©  2019  Betty Hayes Albright 

.

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Offering

.

She still remembers

his deep embrace    

in the open entryway

.

and the salty taste of urgency

on the tongue

of an April day

.

and their offering

to the gods

as it hung in the sun to dry

.

to fluff and fold,

but tenderly —

in the wrinkles of goodbye.    

.

.

(c) 2019  Betty Hayes Albright

.

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Kiln

.

.

Broken words

soak in the cold brine

of memory,

soften in our hands

like cinnamon clay.

Let us carve new curves

fit for the touching,

ready for the fire.

.

.

© 1993, 2018  Betty Hayes Albright 

.

(Pencil drawing from 1965.)

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Shooting Star

.

How brief

the sweep of fire

you hurled across my sea —

.

how brave the flash

that seared our night

to light the harbored diamonds

in my soul.

.

How high

on my horizon

you rode the wild arc —

.

how deep

inside my breast

you came to rest.

.

.

(c) 1994, 2018  Betty Hayes Albright

.

A re-post from 2011, revised.

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Skipping Stones – book released

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“Skipping Stones” is now available on Amazon.com,  (https://tinyurl.com/yccscdzk)  and Barnes & Noble!  

Many thanks to Thomas and Ethel Davis at Four Windows Press, and to Lauren Scott and Candice Daquin for their cover reviews. 

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Prometheus Unglued

.

He steams her edges

and, like stamps

on a postcard

.

she curls in the heat

falling free from the corner

of mythology

.

to be saved

by the fire

in his hands.

.

.

(c) 1993, 2018  Betty Hayes Albright

.

(a re-post, revised)

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Announcing “Skipping Stones”

..

 

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I’m very excited to announce that my poetry book, “Skipping Stones”, will be available on Amazon later this month!  It’s being published by “Four Windows Press”.

“Skipping Stones” has four sections, and it includes the Maeberrie fantasy, which some of you are familiar with. (My two characters now have names!)

The photo for the cover was taken by my son, Jason.

I’ll keep you posted when the book is released.

Thank you very much to my readers, and to Four Windows Press, for your support through the years. ❤

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