The Guest Room of the Heart

By Michelle Rau

We've long known that the dryer is a portal into another dimension for stray socks, but where might wind chimes, a tidepool or a package of bacon take us? Into the Guest Room of the Heart, where everything has a deeper meaning and a higher purpose. This is a room where intimacy is a spiritual act, where a vintage typewriter is a literary Ouija board, where passion catches the imagination on fire and where plants become one with the body. This is the sacred space we're about to enter. This fresh volume marks the author's return to poetry after nearly twenty years of academic papers, intranet content and organizational announcements. Expanding on the themes of life, sex and love, she experiments with subject matter, imagery, form and style to present a diversely entertaining, deep and subtle read.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michelle Rau
• Release date: Dec 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9780983240518

Michelle Rau

Michelle Rau self-published her first cartoon book at the age of eight and has been making and writing things ever since. Her creative output includes photographs, cartoons, jewelry, paintings, crochet and fabric arts, graphic design, product and web design, short stories, paper arts, plays, scripts, and of course poetry. During the zine and self-publishing boom of the late 1980's and early 1990's, Michelle's poetry, cartoons, reviews and essays often appeared in zines or independent magazines such as Factsheet Five, Off Our Backs, Lana's World, and the Alternative Press Review.Michelle returns to creative writing after nearly twenty years of academic papers, intranet content and organizational announcements. Michelle grew up believing that a day indoors is a day wasted, that we are all tools designed for a higher purpose, and that being active and doing things with our hands is a spiritual practice connecting our body, mind and spirit. She sees herself as practical instead of romantic but the reader may beg to differ. She currently divides her time between her day job and her creative life, shuttling between home improvement projects and outdoor recreation in the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest. An enthusiastic cyclist and kayaker, her other passions include biology, women's health, and design.

Book preview

The Guest Room of the Heart

Michelle Rau

Smashwords Edition

A print edition of this book is available from online retailers or the author.

Copyright 2011 Michelle I. Rau

dba How Do you Spell It Productions

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Table of Contents

Life

Sex

Love

Why

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Praise for Guest Room of the Heart

life

open for breakfast

somebody has to get the day going:

contractors with their pickups full of tools,

two cups of coffee

to flip the sun’s breaker switch,

to open the valve that starts time flowing.

we are our own caffeine.

we are the drive to make, do, fix and act.

we are the spark, the ignition.

under our hands darkness brightens,

motors purr into life,

doors unlock

and we're open for business.

***

dawn

this is why i am a morning person.

they say that dawn breaks

but it really just dawns

like any other realization.

first there's darkness,

but it's not complete.

we can't tell when it becomes light

so we have to listen

and watch for cues.

the birds usually figure it out first,

witness those crazy pre-dawn roosters

and all that.

then a cloud lightens and brightens,

the delicate yellow and pink of potential.

but it still isn't light yet,

we have to wait for the blue sky

to make it official.

or maybe we don't.

maybe it's just a cloudy day

and we have to wait and trust

that the sun will be there

because it is.

***

the big predator in the sky

dogs get wiggy when it storms—

clinging lurking whining hiding trembling—

when it's their job to protect us.

what's the fuss?

i think there's a big predator in the sky

whose rumbling growls menace and presage

the blinding flash of slashing claws

and tearing teeth.

when your enemy is as large as the sky

and can't be grabbed by the scruff of the neck,

to suddenly find yourself prey

and get pissed on in a most undignified manner,

that just tears it.

the big predator in the sky

electrifies our nerves

and dogs have more hairs

on the backs of their necks.

it must have opposable thumbs;

how else could it fire those gunshots?

you can keep your place

in the food chain, dog,

and i'll take mine

under the fresh driving rain.

***

harsh mistress

there aren't any new clichés

that can be said about the sea,

but i'll