This is my third volume of 'tweet length' poems, arising from these uncertain times.
Blessings dear friends, as you find your way in these turbulent waters.
Dan
oasis
pilgrim
taste sweet dates
fill your empty flask
rest here
with me
this desert
we must cross
is not safe
wildfires
fentanyl
dying species
a long drought of justice
cannibals in suits & ties
i offer you a simple poem
an island of sanity
safety
knowing
you are not alone
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Sergey Pesterev
Las Vegas
not the usual domain
of poets
i guided an inner life retreat
on the strip
Circus Circus
true story
slot machines pinged
smoky air crept in
over quiet soulful ponderings
crafting tender poems
on Twitter
in a din
of noisy banter
witty barbs
feels
subversively
similar
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Kvnga
saying yes
i wanted you
to feel good
joyful
claim your yes
your power
to the life
imagination
surging in you
you told me
no
was needed
just as badly
no
born from grief
to a spiral of fear
denial
false hope
numbing down
a paralysis of despair
most of all
no to the inevitable
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Priscilla Du Preez
my presence
you needed
instead
i offered
impatient advice
a quick fix
seeing you as a problem
i can solve this
for you
you longed for more
so much more
a sharing of your suffering
holding paradoxes
in tension
in tragic waiting
for
the other side
of your bafflement
and mine
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Daiga Ellaby
being good
he began trying hard
to be loyal to
the holy tribe
uniform
special words
a second conversion
came decades later
surprised him
disruptive
wild
he fell in love
with the world
as it is
with his own tender heart
loyal to
this gate of heaven
everywhere
all of it holy
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Lex Melony
you have no hope
you told me
not now
the hope
i was selling
was optimism
things will get better
it's not that bad
avoid bitter truth
yet you do hope
you said
if hope is
raw defiance
refusal
to accept
this spiral of losses
if hope is
a fire axe
our house is on fire
a calling
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Benjamin Kerens
selfless
religion scolded me
as a boy
die
to self
shitty theology
it turns out
thousands of lives
encountered since
i have found
dangerous ones
have no sense of self
greed
violence
fills selflessness
trusted ones
free to love
centered on true self
self-centered
self-loving
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Jessica Vega
hiding
in the you
i thought i knew
was you
small hurts
on your face
tears
i could not fail to see
my failing
to see
you
accumulates
drips in a pail
one day
flipping
spill of recognizing
my lack of wonder
oh
my first
tentative glimpse
of your raw reality
as i mop the floor
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Luis Tosta
half a heart
one foot inside the door
this false calling
what i could do
explainable
control the risk
invest wisely
keep my options open
this true calling
what i cannot not do
it makes no sense
i push all chips in
reckless
out of control
a whole fearful heart
both feet in
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Keenan Constance
the story
i want to tell
not the tale
rehearsed
crafted
honed
with numbers
titles
in linear prose
to make believe
i am in control
a success
i want to tell you
a real one
raw shame
mystery
ecstasy
poetic meanders
at 3 am
a secret
haunting shadow
i need you to hear
this one
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Stefano Polli
exposing my pain
honest about fears
to you
has some risks
i'm a man
raised by men
used to masks
stoic competence
yet
exposing my joy
playing with you
reveling in boyish wonder
is more dangerous
a more tender disclosure
who I am
closer to the bone
flesh
and to you
knowing me
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Fermin Rodriguez Penelas
i want to tame you
i hide advice
as innocent query
'hey, only asking'
sensing coercion
defences up
you offer
what i want to hear
not truth
if i dare
to free you
an open question
unhindered
presuming nothing
a wild wise creature
you
emerges
unpredictable
surprising us both
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Dmitriy Karfagenskiy
mine is a weak heart
trying to be heard
above the din
low wattage
a signal
so quiet
i can't hear it
and then
you attend to me
witnessing me
attentive
tasting
sensing my words
a dial turns up
i hear you hearing me
you hear me into speech
amplifying wisdom
i so long to hear
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Kai Oberhäuser
crossroads
an activist
a mystic
at this intersection
if i fail
to know despair
in a suicidal cycle
i am dishonest
denying brutal facts
avoiding the real
if i fail
to know hope
i am blind to
sacred defiance
millions of local bursts
refusing death
everywhere
awakening to truth
Dan Hines 2021
photo by Justin Luebke