The world collectively
lost its mind
When fires burned
our vision blind

From East to West
and North to South
Insanity
from mouth to mouth

The world has finally
woken up
Pundits quartered
their lies corrupt

Mobbed together
they screamed on high
But run for cover
—as truth decries

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

Covered deep in
Poison Ivy
A rash that spreads
and burns

Its toxic mass
left festering
With younger minds
to churn

What used to be
a noble cause
Malingers
in disease

Whose vines grow wild
to trap the dark …
That once were climbed
—to free

(The New Room: December, 2023)

Who among us
will write at the end

Who among us
the last to contend

Who among us
will capture goodbye

Who among us
won’t wither then die

Who among us
will stare it all down

Who among us
our destiny found

Who among us
will proffer the word

Who among us
demand to be heard

Who among us
will write the last song

Who among us
—will bridge the beyond

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

Busted Flat …

Poetic busking
the white lines advancing

A voice on the asphalt
the rubber — the road

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)



The Heaviest Silence

Oh, to be cursed
with the burden of truth

Without the propensity
—to speak it out loud

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

The smell of my own death
revisited tonight
Of lavender and wet snow
and juniper in flight
It took me back in mourning
to sadness on the run
And left the days remaining
indentured on the come

Its fragrance changed to lilies
wafting row to row
In tribute to a history
last chapter yet to know
Waiting left to wonder
the hour and the day
Each breath of late and step I take
—reminds me once again

(The New Room: December, 2023)

Shave the devil naked
get that tail between his legs
Leave him bald and impotent
all passion left in dregs

Fleece this vile pestilence
in the flames his fate ensnared
Shear what he embraces most
— temptations curse laid bare

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

A laughingstock of history …
America right now
Fifty years of turning left
leading further down

Words alone can’t fix it
so little time remains
Freedom anything but free
—with liberty in flames

(The New Room: December, 2023)