enjoy this Christopher Hivner writing
in the Scars Publications free 2011 PDF file chapbook: The Silence Brushes
My Cheek Like Glass
(click on the front cover image or the
title text to download the free PDF file)
In the Halo
Christopher Hivner
I wore the halo
until it singed my hair
and it was removed.
The texture of mortar
soaked in rain
kneaded my back muscles
as I waited
under the eaves
for my message.
I wore the halo
when I was young
and infinite,
when the bells rang out
and I gathered the peels
for myself.
Lured one way,
coaxed another,
a third road cut down the middle
into a nest
of the sullied and forceful,
bored in temperament,
left for the future;
following means one thing,
followers another.
I wore the halo
under a hood
and the hood
under the stars
and the stars
under the nebulae
that hid my unease.
When it burned,
my skin blistered
