Life can be symbolized in the
impossibility of chugging  
champagne from the bottle,
in the half-great, half-horrible scent
of cheap cologne. Life feels like
leaving 3am messages on your
ex’s home phone.

I feel the most alive in warm summer rain,

like when we were lining up jobs, stanzas

and *******.

Life is a small *******
with a Napoleon Complex.
Life is that one lover that takes things out
of context.
         "I am who I am, *******!"
Life is the fact that people can’t buy
Daraprim for what what the price is.
Life is ISIS,
who could ****
hundreds of thousands to
appease a God who
cannot hear them. Life
makes you scream with fury
until you’re purring with calm.
Sputtering like an engine,

until life is gone.

Until I lose my voice
and no one listens
the unsaid words of love
will accumulate
inside me,
and will appear on my face
like the flashes
from an electronic sign
whose bulbs have all blown
except for two or three
intermittently appearing
like a code
that no one but you
understands.

Until I lose my mind
with no one's help
the unthought thoughts
will accumulate
and be sacrificed
like my greatgrandfather,
an Isaac who wasn't spared.
And I, an Isaac who was,
was born under the sign of the ram,
to be sacrificed in other ways.

Somewhere buried deep beneath your family albums,
Mother’s Day cards, embroidered pillow cases,
Canadian coins and high school yearbooks
there is a  hidden picture of you and  me
under the  limbs of a flowering Catalpa
tree.  It only sees light on uncommon
days when you are alone.

Write it big
Write it strong
Write it eternal,
…a poets song

Make your words clear
Make right from wrong
The message short,
…the meaning long

This time only lent
The whispers uncloud
The opening prescient,
…reasons abound

Write it forever
Write it out loud
Within the moment,
…happening now

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)

What happens then,
When we finally reach that bridge
The unsteady footpath of decision 
That only one of us can cross
When our hands part
And you walk the shaky steps of commitment and truth
With a single glance backward 
Avoiding my eyes 
As I watch you walk away
Only a few steps apart
But with a lifetime of history and emotion stretching it's cavernous yawn beneath us

Do I forget you?
As you stride out, leaving of the mists of my adoration 
Should I cleanse my mind of love
Crush the butterflies that sit in my stomach
Awaiting your every word 
Do I scratch out your face from the photographs of my mind?
Remake memories 
Reforge falsified passion
Ignore the beauty in the delicate brush of wind against a sheltered forest,
The bittersweet sting of cold rain against warm skin
The rush of blood to my cheeks at a black and white image I know only you could love.
Do I embrace my senses
Turn my back
Allow us to be separate entities in a world where we were supposed to be whole

Or do I follow the solitary wake of my heart
Cross legged, silent
Patiently waiting at that edge for the moment you may return 
For the moment you realise
Life cannot go on without us
And you turn back 
To leap the chasm that keeps us apart
Wait for the flames of your outstretched arms to reignite the fire in my broken heart
For us to connect
In the unending circle of emotion and connection 
That makes us whole within ourselves 
That feeds us
Free to blossom into the multitude of colour our wistful lives have always promised 

Can I wait in vain
And let my heart forever overthrow the sensibility of the mind
Expose myself to the elements of rejection and sorrow 
For the promise of something perfect
Sublime and intangible
Can I forsake the solid ground of reality?

I already know how this will end 
When we reach that path.
My body can let you go
But my heart will never forget

Cut open my face,
that would only make it quicker.
I chose my fate,
so could you make this quicker?
You are not you
and I'm half of me.
Trapped in typhoon,
a war under moon
goes endlessly.
The night befriends you
to help you cut through.
What's left here is
nothing for you.
I left there, stayed here
with you.
No rights, I went left
with you.
Held tight, I spent
nights with you.
Then hands grip my neck,
no gun at your head.
A quick loss of breath,
look what love did.

when two hearts unite love begins to start

and the love you share is given heart to heart

there to last forever as long as you may live

and forevermore true love you will give



it comes to everyone each and every race

love it can be found in each and every place

it is there to share for each and everyone

it keeps the world together helps the world go on