ACHEKNOWLEDGEment

By Hokis

----

In the parlor,

She decides to finally take out

the baby-skin smooth walnut carpenter box.

It was gifted to her by Father Time two years ago.

A month before he boarded the train home.

Inside:

pink laced baby shoes,

a single jeweled crown, and

a plaque which reads:

Leader of the Free World.

She looks back up at

That Universal Moon,

to offer zi a prideful grin.

They return the sentiment.

{Hokis, they whisper, may you rest in peace}

Hokis is an American poet of Armenian descent.  She is senior curator of Headline Poetry & Press, a regular contributor to Reclamation Magazine, and featured in numerous anthologies. Her debut collection "Unbecoming" is a poet memoir sharing her personal rise from political trauma. You can find more about her, her published work, and Unbecoming at hokis.blog.

Altering the Mind of Gravity

By Hokis

----

Love cannot permeate the busy-brained heart, just

Ask the stretching-self-over-the-valley dendrite.

Muscle memories of

Icy, undertow moments from

Comrades and rivals, alike.

Time to decelerate, my small elliptical

Axis holds the revolving leash, I twist to see blue sky

Love lubricates the sheath; Synapse is free!

Hokis is an American poet of Armenian descent.  She is senior curator of Headline Poetry & Press, a regular contributor to Reclamation Magazine, and featured in numerous anthologies. Her debut collection "Unbecoming" is a poet memoir sharing her personal rise from political trauma. You can find more about her, her published work, and Unbecoming at hokis.blog.

Codependant's Glare

By Hokis

----

And then

There is the day when they truly need you.

When he loses his legs

And her denial-powered anger commands

He win the war with gravity.

And then

There is the week when they truly need you.

When he cannot find himself

And the wildflower prairie fills with weeded dendrites

A field that has taken too many comrades.

And then

There is the year they truly need you.

When he is networking his own synthetic cables throughout the world-wide web

And you are the tuning fork

Affirming the self that was here before he remembered who he will be.

On these days

Before they really needed you

You needed them to need you.

{The heirloom locket hints

before it glares back at the Light of day}

You needed them to entangle their want

With their need of you-

Enabling them to stay.

You weaved the perfect nest with translucent spider silk.

A nest they w\c\ould never leave,

Like the quick, polished, petite hummingbird that you are.

But now,

They no longer care to fit.

And then

Your wings' frantic exhaustion has taken you from view.

You lose not your legs, rather your footing.

Your chained dendrites are entangled with your own weeds,

cables, and recycled spider silk.

And then

You are the only one who needs you.

Hokis is an American poet of Armenian descent.  She is senior curator of Headline Poetry & Press, a regular contributor to Reclamation Magazine, and featured in numerous anthologies. Her debut collection "Unbecoming" is a poet memoir sharing her personal rise from political trauma. You can find more about her, her published work, and Unbecoming at hokis.blog.