Hanbell Gallery
Let There Be Light Vo. 3
Author: Ris V. Rose
Instagram: @risvrosepoetry
Based in Ontario, Canada
A sample of poems from my fourth collection, "Let There Be Light". This collection uses the many different definitions and forms of light as metaphors to explore the pursuit of happiness.
Limbo
There is light
On either end of the limbo.
Behind me:
I. The life I used to lead.
II. Naivety.
III. I could let the insanity take over
And pretend that I live there again
For all eternity.
Ahead:
I. Hope
And dreams
Have become reality.
II. Happiness
In an unabridged form.
III. Maybe if I closed my eyes
And had a little more patience
I could get there faster.
Here in the middle:
I. Only dark.
-Ris
September 2019
I wait; maybe the fates will decide.
Between the Staff Lines
You wrote in my old books,
Just grabbed a pen—
My own weapon of choice—
And scribbled all over them,
Top to bottom,
Left to right.
You drew nonsensical shapes.
You wrote answers to my questions.
You wrote your name
Next to mine.
You covered the pages with ink
And left no space free.
Now they sit in a bag
Collecting dust under the piano.
I haven’t opened them since—
I’m too afraid of letting their shapes
Spill all over my floor
And of having to clean up the memories.
-Ris
October 2019
Even I didn’t realize back then that writing is permanent.
Souls
My soul comes alive when you sit next to me.
In the beginning,
It would peek its head
Through my ribcage,
The cell it hides behind,
And slowly,
Hesitantly,
Make its way outside.
It would stop
And squint
In the brightness of the outside world,
For it had been inside far too long,
And then it would walk to you,
Slowly,
Hesitantly.
It could feel your light
Radiating from you like a fire
As big as the one you put out,
And it would start to feel warm
From its toes
To its fingertips,
And it would smile
And reach up like a child
To wrap its arms around your neck.
Now,
It jumps right out of the cage
The second it hears your voice.
It skips into the starkness of the daylight
And runs to you.
It feels your light
Radiating from you like a fire
As big as the one you put out,
And it feels warm
From its toes
To its fingertips,
And it smiles,
Reaches up,
And wrap its arms around you
Like it could never afford to let go.
-Ris
October 2019
Souls have no concept of time; they just know when you’re not around.
about the
POet
Ris V. Rose is a twenty-two-year-old Canadian poet and fiction writer, and a recent undergraduate from the University of Toronto. An avid daydreamer, Ris often allows her mind to drift off in order to work through her emotions and experiences and turn them into poetry. She is currently working through her fifth poetry collection, called "Landscape," and a fantasy novel. She also loves to read, sing, play the piano, and learn about outer space and the environment.