September 8~ CHUCK HARP

Today we're shining the spotlight on award-winning writer Chuck Harp, who brings us three poems which navigate place, time, and emotion. Thank you, Chuck, for sharing your words with SHINE international poetry series!

Vast Blues

Driving past the vast blues
tangling with one another
along the rocky coast,
everything shrinking
in my faded rearview mirror.

Work, lost to the winds.
Anxiety, hidden behind leaves.

Images of escaping the road
and swerving to the sea
to sink in secret
by fire, smoke, and foam
like a submarine, hidden
from all on the surface.

Instead, the wheels roll on
passing gawkers and commuters
heading to a new anything
that’s half as perfect
and simple
as that all-encompassing color.

Dry Heat

Sunshine snowflakes
Passing by my clouded windows,
Blackened deceased leaves
Seeking a final rest
Beside the faded paint
And deteriorating apartment
Complex, tucked in the hidden
Los Feliz forest
Growing by
the side of the highway
in the dry
crude California
soil, rich
in disappointment,
teeming with tears
these bright purple beauties
proving all can come
crumbling down
even on the brightest days.

Some for the Road

Halted by a red hand
approaching the crosswalk
I peek out beyond
my fraying grey him
to spot the invisible winds
shimmering at the furthest hill.

Ripples sprouting below the sun
like hollow peddles growing
in a liquified garden
set amongst boundless beds
only ever able to bloom
from the seed of desires
before morphing to an oasis
in seasons reaching the
dangerous temperatures.

Beckoned by a white guy
to enter the intersection
I trek toward the mirage
only for it to crumble
and disperse like dry weeds
beneath my traveling feet.

Chuck Harp is an award-winning Los Angeles based writer. He’s published poetry collections, novels, scripts, and comics. Parallel to his printed works, Chuck collaborates with his art collective, Katcheen Tongues, to create musical poetry projects. Between work, Chuck writes about the skateboard culture.

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