Hungry Ghosts—Collected Poems

By Loch Henson

This is the debut collection of poetry by Loch Henson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781982211974

Loch Henson

Loch Henson is an award-winning poet who currently resides in Northern California. She has been a featured artist at Luna's Cafe in Sacramento, Nello Olivo Winery in Placerville, and was a co-feature on the inaugural tour of El Dorado County Poet Laureate Trail.

Book preview

Hungry Ghosts

Hungry ghosts push my shopping cart.

I don’t know what to feed them to

make them be quiet and go away.

The smoky burn of scotch…single malt, please…

Incense (sage and cedar)

a wee nip of pomegranate juice, or

perhaps some peppered chocolate?

Tobacco, or spices?

What will appease them today?

What will lay their noisy chorus to rest?

It’s not the goods they want; it’s the

attention. No wine can pass skeletal

jaws and be tasted, no smoke can be

scented or savored with lungs that are

themselves in dust.

They envy the juice of life that we

still retain, ours by birth, but on borrowed time.

So lift the glass,

    light the candle,

        burn the incense

            and lay the chocolate on your tongue,

lest someday you join the chorus and

become just another hungry ghost.

News at 11:00

Sneaking sips of

the good air

is not enough for us.

We, who falter at

intersections, aware

of the power of divergence

turn our backs

to the polluted tides,

and struggle to swim

against the current.

Vintage dispositions

disguising radical tendencies,

we capture with words

and dreams

and paintings

the shadow side of the

brightened, whitened

(bleached, parched)

News at 11:00.

Invitation

You are cordially invited

to make full use of your

remarkable intuition,

your unique perspective,

and your charged enthusiasm.

How? you ask…I’m glad

you asked.

It doesn’t matter.

Work where you work.

Play at things that

make you happy.

Love.

Do these things often.

Shine as bright as you dare.

The world needs you,

now as much as ever,

to accept the invitation you

were given at birth…to

BE YOURSELF.

RSVP daily.

Affinity for Blue

I come by it honestly,

my affinity for blue.

It’s a birth right.

Tahoe’s shades, from

smutty to cerulean,

informed my early imagination.

Where I used to call home

is now where I get to visit

on ‘special’ occasions,

few and far between, and

short…unsatisfying, but

adequate in the absence of

the deepest hues of my

most preferred shade elsewhere.

Twilight skies, and cobalt

specimens aside, there are

so few opportunities to bask

in the lush loveliness of

the proper blue.

Home

A nest built of

    lichen and spider webs

sits, sculped and holding

together on a branch

    just well enough

to host baby hummingbirds.

Home is a

    delicate concept,

to be held together

    just well enough

to host and raise young.

When examined

    closely, the gossamer

threads seem so easily

destroyed.

It is not a false

    comfort offered the baby bird.

How else does one

    cultivate the will to fly?

Poems Before Breakfast

Staying hungry while you write

may lead to some interesting

imagery.

That’s why poetry comes

before breakfast in my house.

The not-so-subtle charms of

pancakes and bacon aside, the

temptation to evade your own

insight grows stronger as a morning

progresses.

In those pre-dawn quiet hours,

while my partner and the dogs are

still taking turns snoring, I come to my muse