Looking Carefully

Brushing against strangers
Friction and resistance
Creating cricket songs

Iron butterfly lands
Weighing down petals
That bend but don’t break

Fragile glass bones
Risk connection
Gently hold hands

Fleeting life
A short breath
Blink and die

Eyes search
Heart seeks
Hands clasp

Love
Tames
Fear

There is a form that is a Diminished Hexaverse which is defined as 5 stanzas with the first having 5 lines of 5 syllables and each following stanza having a reduced number of lines and syllables. Now I was willing to accept this as a valid form except hex is a Greek derived prefix indicting six not five! If it were properly named it would be a Diminished Pentaverse. This misnamed form has resulted in me attempting to write a Diminished Sexaverse since the Hexaverse has already been misappropriated. My version is a uniform 3 lines per stanza with only the number of syllables reduced in subsequent stanzas beginning with 6 syllables per line…

The accreditation visit is over. We can all in unison release a sigh of relief. We were examined, put under a microscope, and thoroughly picked apart. Dissected really. We all feel like the Thanksgiving turkey carcass that has had all the meat removed and then boiled for stock. All that remains are the throwaway parts. The celebration is underway – at least for a couple days. Then it is back to the grindstone to keep our noses sharp.