POETRY
Heartpine
“Heartpine” read by Alexis Leigh Ragan.
After The Light of the World by William Holman Hunt, 1853
There is no handle here,
on the face of a door overgrown
with the after-rot of harvest
loss, where persimmons split
along the worn frame, ombré
abandon embellishing the hinge
that was sealed shut with such
severity, one might believe
the owner of the home lives
bent on keeping secrets
silent — in a forest that thinks
it’s forgotten, not knowing
its own carver.
Yet this is who light has traveled
such a long distance to dine with,
standing like a solid pine outside
the late orchard porch — for who else
illuminates the wood if not the lamp?
A quiet knock resounds. Either silence
will answer, or a living response.
it only takes an open heart to turn
the inner latch and unlock.
Ode to Belmont Shore
“Ode to Belmont Shore” read by Alexis Leigh Ragan.
Not that I knew it would
become the sanctuary
of my surrender — at first,
the apartment of my true
departure, my own song nest.
Until a knocking on the old
inner oak of my soul —
an opening. Suddenly, hours
on knees. How you serenaded
me into safety upstairs,
behind the opaque brown
curtains, drew me to your
merciful heart. It was there I saw
my own melting on surrendered
floorboards, a student living
alone in Belmont Shore.
Through Spanish archways,
the room grew warm.
In our dining, I transformed.
Alexis Leigh is a deep-image poet fascinated by epiphanic shifts, convinced that art serves as a window of worship that leads humanity back to God’s heart. She created the literary journal, Vessels of Light, to house literature that shines for Christ. She is currently completing her MFA in poetry at California State University Long Beach.
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Image: The Light of the World (1853) by William Holman Hunt, Public domain.
Heart of Flesh Literary Journal 