With the Princess

after the war

I buried my eyes

-in the stones

-in the sky

where her blue body lies

—

They draped her in petals

as white as the moon

to soften the sins

that

leak–

—from her wounds

—-

her secrets

smell pinkish

like strawberry wine

but

I see

the foul rot

that will

cloak her

in time

With the Princess by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse

The Last night.

When she vanished

-for the first time-

-for the last time-

I could not help but swallow a chalky lump

of relief.

And I’m not sure how it happened but

now I am

engulfed in a

soapy rose–

that dribbles

into my mouth

in spindly Ribbons.

It burrows in my ears

and toes

in rumpled gobs that whisper

and whoop

until

there is a

A fog inside

that I cannot

undream

“Lady in Waiting” by Angie Hoover Hillhouse

Artwork: Lost in the World by Filmout

She’s Done

I feel the dull but insistent teeth of your dinner fork

tugging at moth holes

in my sun dress

asking for me to be more bare

for you

more raw

for you

and so I let them needle away

until the threads are unknotted

and the cloth falls to the floor, and

I am

all that you want me to be

“Your Toy” by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse

Artwork: “Sleep When You Die” by Kieran Sperring

http://society6.com/captain_spezzo/Sleep-When-You-Die_Print

Grassland Blues

After the death

After the peace

are the gravestones

topped with fuzzy moss and sun-dried tears.

and

the slimy, felt moaning

of infinity–

rolling slowly into every coffin

and every urn.

There is no place but here

for there is no place

at all

“Afterdeath” by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse

Artwork by Hugo Barros

http://society6.com/hugobarros/nature-x_Print

The Long Goodbye

sleep a while,

heavy soul

weary traveler

red and old

bury burdens in the sand

trust

that sleep

will make you whole

“The Long Goodbye” by Angie Hoover-Hillhouse

Artwork: Bene Rohimann:

http://society6.com/pearpicker