Joe Hesch
@jahesch.bsky.social
Sometimes I get conflicted when the wind howls and the snow flies. That’s when I need to be reminded how once I loved flying on...
The Warmer Wings of Winter
wp.me/p1AR9N-4xr
The Warmer Wings of Winter
wp.me/p1AR9N-4xr
The Warmer Wings of Winter
My cheek sizzles where the wind slapped it. This complicated duetI share with winter reachingits crescendo, both of ushowling, and only one using words. No one can hear them above the roarfrom the …
wp.me
December 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Sometimes I get conflicted when the wind howls and the snow flies. That’s when I need to be reminded how once I loved flying on...
The Warmer Wings of Winter
wp.me/p1AR9N-4xr
The Warmer Wings of Winter
wp.me/p1AR9N-4xr
A poor pass at a "trope" poem. A Hallmark Christmas film it isn't. They’ve always gone to the fridge for beer at two minutes to the end.
The Best Thing We’ve Never Done
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wx
The Best Thing We’ve Never Done
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wx
November 17, 2025 at 11:03 PM
A poor pass at a "trope" poem. A Hallmark Christmas film it isn't. They’ve always gone to the fridge for beer at two minutes to the end.
The Best Thing We’ve Never Done
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wx
The Best Thing We’ve Never Done
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wx
Supposed to write a “dialogue” poem, but I’m feeling kinda introspective and missing something on Day 13 of my #PoemADay effort. I think an odd metaphoric #flashfiction story snuck in.
I See
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wp
I See
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wp
I See
I knew we had to talk by the way she wouldn’t talk. The only back and forth she’d share were glances. But I could understood what she wanted to tell me.“Don’t look at me like that,” said Glance 1. …
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Supposed to write a “dialogue” poem, but I’m feeling kinda introspective and missing something on Day 13 of my #PoemADay effort. I think an odd metaphoric #flashfiction story snuck in.
I See
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wp
I See
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wp
Today, a quick color poem. Probably colors that only I could see. Okay, with its meter and rhyme, maybe Dr. Seuss.
The Color of Nothing
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wf
The Color of Nothing
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wf
The Color of Nothing
Forever they sang all about it being blue, that feeling one gets from missing someone like you.But I can tell all that it’s simply not true.Blue is the color of that Carolina sky,or maybe the ocean…
wp.me
November 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Today, a quick color poem. Probably colors that only I could see. Okay, with its meter and rhyme, maybe Dr. Seuss.
The Color of Nothing
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wf
The Color of Nothing
wp.me/p1AR9N-4wf
This flop's a Day 7 gluten-free "dream” #poem for poem-a-day November. While not an expert baker like my daughter, I'm a very patient #poet. So I expect I'll get it right someday.
Still Waiting for a Taste
wp.me/p1AR9N-4w2
Still Waiting for a Taste
wp.me/p1AR9N-4w2
Still Waiting for a Taste
I guess you must have dreams before any of your dreams can come true. Though there are such things as flourless cakes, which seem pretty sweet.Sure, I’ve had dreamy hopes and aspirations beneath my…
wp.me
November 11, 2025 at 3:16 PM
This flop's a Day 7 gluten-free "dream” #poem for poem-a-day November. While not an expert baker like my daughter, I'm a very patient #poet. So I expect I'll get it right someday.
Still Waiting for a Taste
wp.me/p1AR9N-4w2
Still Waiting for a Taste
wp.me/p1AR9N-4w2
Supposed to write a #poem whose title starts with “How…”
As in “How Am I Ever Going to Do This Poetry Thing Anymore?”
But I chose to borrow pieces of my nascent newspaper days and those W’s I was supposed to answer.
How Did We Get Here?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vX
As in “How Am I Ever Going to Do This Poetry Thing Anymore?”
But I chose to borrow pieces of my nascent newspaper days and those W’s I was supposed to answer.
How Did We Get Here?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vX
How Did We Get Here?
How did we get here, ever heartbeat close yet worlds away?Where I see you as you mightwish to be seen, but feel you’re notand you hear me how you wish you didn’t, but are glad you do?Do you look ba…
wp.me
November 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Supposed to write a #poem whose title starts with “How…”
As in “How Am I Ever Going to Do This Poetry Thing Anymore?”
But I chose to borrow pieces of my nascent newspaper days and those W’s I was supposed to answer.
How Did We Get Here?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vX
As in “How Am I Ever Going to Do This Poetry Thing Anymore?”
But I chose to borrow pieces of my nascent newspaper days and those W’s I was supposed to answer.
How Did We Get Here?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vX
Supposed to be a “description poem.” It turned into something that is not a poem, prose nor prose poem. But here it is, with my usual array of descriptive nonsense, like a Temu Raymond Chandler.
What Is Jeopardy?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vN
What Is Jeopardy?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vN
What Is Jeopardy?
I can’t recall if her eyes were blue, they might’ve been gray, but her hair was legit blond. She was kinda skinny. But warm from her laugh to her toes when she’d come sit by me in the TV lounge mos…
wp.me
November 6, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Supposed to be a “description poem.” It turned into something that is not a poem, prose nor prose poem. But here it is, with my usual array of descriptive nonsense, like a Temu Raymond Chandler.
What Is Jeopardy?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vN
What Is Jeopardy?
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vN
My Magic 8-Ball muse dropped this for me (not for Them) somewhere between the Q and the M on my keyboard. No, I don't write poetry with a pen on paper. I'll never be one of Them.
I Belong to Me
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vB
#poetry
I Belong to Me
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vB
#poetry
I Belong to Me
Why should I care if I belong with some macro or micro “them?”I wasn’t some preteen girl sighinginto the mirror, clouding the viewof what makes her Her behind those sad eyes. And I’m no longer the …
wp.me
October 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
My Magic 8-Ball muse dropped this for me (not for Them) somewhere between the Q and the M on my keyboard. No, I don't write poetry with a pen on paper. I'll never be one of Them.
I Belong to Me
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vB
#poetry
I Belong to Me
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vB
#poetry
Yeah, finding one of my books in a public library is some wild fantasy. But a poet can dream. Obviously. Maybe someday you’ll find us...
Between Heaney and Hughes
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vv
Between Heaney and Hughes
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vv
Between Heaney and Hughes
I dreamt I was in the library, a pleasant enough locale. Up and down the aisles, I wandered, just observing the thickness and colors of the thousands of volumes. Not once did I stop to read any of …
wp.me
October 21, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Yeah, finding one of my books in a public library is some wild fantasy. But a poet can dream. Obviously. Maybe someday you’ll find us...
Between Heaney and Hughes
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vv
Between Heaney and Hughes
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vv
I was tired, sore and empty of words for a few weeks. But I felt not so tired and sore while I raked up these words in todays sunshine and autumn breeze.
Where I Found Them
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vc
Where I Found Them
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vc
Where I Found Them
I tried today, I truly did,
to find the words inside to tell you.
But I guess I must have misplaced them
in my move from youngheart to oldsoul.
Been searching for weeks and weeks
and all I’ve found…
wp.me
October 18, 2025 at 12:47 AM
I was tired, sore and empty of words for a few weeks. But I felt not so tired and sore while I raked up these words in todays sunshine and autumn breeze.
Where I Found Them
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vc
Where I Found Them
wp.me/p1AR9N-4vc
I skipped the reunion, though I doubt I was missed. You see, I lettered in introversion and aced invisibility. And you know what’s changed since then?
not much
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uY
not much
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uY
not much
“so what have you done with your life?”and my answer would tumble in a mumble “not much.” because recalling would be lifting more than my ragged memory could heft.i knew i w…
wp.me
October 1, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I skipped the reunion, though I doubt I was missed. You see, I lettered in introversion and aced invisibility. And you know what’s changed since then?
not much
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uY
not much
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uY
Like the title says, this was supposed to be a “small” poem, like maybe a micro or #haiku. But the 5-7-5’s ran away with me. So we got this Wednesday poem.
This Poem Is Small (Sad But True)
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uR
This Poem Is Small (Sad But True)
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uR
This Poem Is Small (Sad, But True)
This poem is small,much like the start of it all,when I wrote haiku,not yet secret odes ‘bout you.They had no rhyming,just beat counts, soul, some timing, and nature, to start.But then soul gave wa…
wp.me
September 17, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Like the title says, this was supposed to be a “small” poem, like maybe a micro or #haiku. But the 5-7-5’s ran away with me. So we got this Wednesday poem.
This Poem Is Small (Sad But True)
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uR
This Poem Is Small (Sad But True)
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uR
This is what happens when too much time passes between poems...or warm touching warm.
We Go By Time
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uK
We Go By Time
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uK
We Go By Time
The time doesn’t go by so much as we go by time, staring at it like we expect it to fly when it can barely crawl. You’d come by, sit at my shoulder, sharing a stare with me until you needed to go. …
wp.me
September 17, 2025 at 1:18 AM
This is what happens when too much time passes between poems...or warm touching warm.
We Go By Time
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uK
We Go By Time
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uK
Want to thank Gordon Lightfoot for the title, from his song, "Looking at the Rain.” Maybe my favorite. The rest of this pile of not quite poetic enough leaves are all mine.
Waiting for a Line to Fall
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uE
Waiting for a Line to Fall
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uE
Waiting for a Line to Fall
The leaves decided to test gravity today, the still-greenish scouts launching themselves into the September breeze.And for a while, they broke laws that Newton enacted, since nobody then wanted to …
wp.me
September 5, 2025 at 11:54 AM
Want to thank Gordon Lightfoot for the title, from his song, "Looking at the Rain.” Maybe my favorite. The rest of this pile of not quite poetic enough leaves are all mine.
Waiting for a Line to Fall
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uE
Waiting for a Line to Fall
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uE
Sometimes the writing is as hard as the sleeping. And the sleeping comes hard most nights.
To Sleep, Perchance
wp.me/p1AR9N-4ux
To Sleep, Perchance
wp.me/p1AR9N-4ux
To Sleep, Perchance
Cracked open the blinds across my bedroom window last night. Since some invisible thorn was jabbing my sleep-craving mind. Thought I might as well see what stories the moon’s light might carve behi…
wp.me
September 2, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Sometimes the writing is as hard as the sleeping. And the sleeping comes hard most nights.
To Sleep, Perchance
wp.me/p1AR9N-4ux
To Sleep, Perchance
wp.me/p1AR9N-4ux
You might be one of the gritty city bards who say I’ve no standing to tell you about the slums and shadows I never told you I grew up with. Well...
the truth is in the scars
wp.me/p1AR9N-4um
#poetry
the truth is in the scars
wp.me/p1AR9N-4um
#poetry
the truth is in the scars
the neighborhood was tough enough as i dragged myself across its asphalt six afternoons a week. i saw the sinas we each shed our skin and allfacade was lost. you can read the scars, if i let you. y…
wp.me
August 27, 2025 at 12:03 AM
You might be one of the gritty city bards who say I’ve no standing to tell you about the slums and shadows I never told you I grew up with. Well...
the truth is in the scars
wp.me/p1AR9N-4um
#poetry
the truth is in the scars
wp.me/p1AR9N-4um
#poetry
Writing #poetry isn’t supposed like breaking wild 2x4s into saw horses or building a barn in rural Pennsylvania, but it kinda is.
Waiting to Measure, Willing to Cut
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uh
Waiting to Measure, Willing to Cut
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uh
Waiting to Measure, Willing to Cut
In the washing machine-broken silence,I’ve waited hours for inspiration to call.But inspiration ghosted me years agolike you did once and everyone else has since. Though I was really the ghost.Funn…
wp.me
August 23, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Writing #poetry isn’t supposed like breaking wild 2x4s into saw horses or building a barn in rural Pennsylvania, but it kinda is.
Waiting to Measure, Willing to Cut
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uh
Waiting to Measure, Willing to Cut
wp.me/p1AR9N-4uh
This feels like one of my old #poems. Not one I already wrote, but something like the ones I'd sleep with and hold gently all night, warm and safe next to me on the pillow.
I Remember You and Blue Flowers
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u5
I Remember You and Blue Flowers
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u5
I Remember You and Blue Flowers
I remember the day you let me in to see your new situation and I was so nervous I’d say the wrong thing, I just ahhh’d dry anxiety out my throat. You still believe I have a way with words. Besides,…
wp.me
August 21, 2025 at 7:40 PM
This feels like one of my old #poems. Not one I already wrote, but something like the ones I'd sleep with and hold gently all night, warm and safe next to me on the pillow.
I Remember You and Blue Flowers
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u5
I Remember You and Blue Flowers
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u5
Sometimes, when the good stuff feels out of my reach, I still try making diamonds for my special audience.
Magical Hoping for an Audience of One
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u1
Magical Hoping for an Audience of One
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u1
Magical Hoping for an Audience of One
I like to think it’s magic I’m making, right here for my rapt audience of one.My kid would think the same of her baking, but who doesn’t love a warm cinnamon bun?Watch, she’ll mix ingredients in me…
wp.me
August 13, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Sometimes, when the good stuff feels out of my reach, I still try making diamonds for my special audience.
Magical Hoping for an Audience of One
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u1
Magical Hoping for an Audience of One
wp.me/p1AR9N-4u1
I sometimes wonder if it's worth it, these blind faith dives into the unknown. But, for better or worse, they're my only true adventure. Tomorrow I'll be swimming back.
What I Found in the River on My Way to You
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tU
#poetry
What I Found in the River on My Way to You
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tU
#poetry
What I Found in the River on My Way to You
I’ve been avoiding it,jumping in the river again. The water’s frightful cold and the punishing current swift and strong.I’ve seen it carve itself new blue line paths, taking great bites from …
wp.me
August 7, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I sometimes wonder if it's worth it, these blind faith dives into the unknown. But, for better or worse, they're my only true adventure. Tomorrow I'll be swimming back.
What I Found in the River on My Way to You
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tU
#poetry
What I Found in the River on My Way to You
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tU
#poetry
Back in the saddle after much too long in the emotional wasteland. A new #poem.
Admission of a Certain Guilt
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tK
Admission of a Certain Guilt
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tK
Admission of a Certain Guilt
I don’t think you’ll ever admit it,fear tangled over admission like a net, but you do…or did…while lives changed with the years and all those passings.I’ll not engage with that old trope of two shi…
wp.me
July 30, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Back in the saddle after much too long in the emotional wasteland. A new #poem.
Admission of a Certain Guilt
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tK
Admission of a Certain Guilt
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tK
Sorry for the absence, but 3 deaths in the family within a weeks’ time tends to focus a body on things beyond need to bleed black and white. I had to write today before I forgot how. I hope this is how.
Messages in the Morning
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tD
#poetry
Messages in the Morning
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tD
#poetry
Messages in the Morning
I held my breath ’til I’d read it all, not knowing if I’d make it all the way.It wasn’t so much that it was long, but so I mightunderstand your meaning.Punctuating the final line with a gasp,I lie …
wp.me
July 17, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Sorry for the absence, but 3 deaths in the family within a weeks’ time tends to focus a body on things beyond need to bleed black and white. I had to write today before I forgot how. I hope this is how.
Messages in the Morning
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tD
#poetry
Messages in the Morning
wp.me/p1AR9N-4tD
#poetry