Ignored
by my children
Especially
my daughter
Taken
for granted
Taking
up space

Living
unnoticed
My pain
front and center
Checking
off boxes
That never
erase

Knowing
she loves me
More
now than ever
My face
a reminder
Of greatness
long past

My voice
the last vestige
Of songs
sung together
A melody
silenced
When first
—became last

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Morphing through
the decades
leaning on our pasts

Brian, Paul, Van, and I
still living
loose and fast

The words have
deeper meaning
as melodies refrain

The end in view
but out of sight
—the magic preordained

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: January, 2024)

I welcome the feeling
of leaving behind …
No Facebook, no Twitter
no Email to blind

Controlling the message
undigitized truth
My mind free of programs
my spirit induced

Where magic is whispered
no texting or bytes
Bespoken the voices
I hear in the night

My memory stays active
not stored in the Cloud
Rebooting what’s under
— enlightenment’s shroud

(The New Room: January, 2024)

We hope and we dream
for a world free of pain
but the rock of serenity
stays beyond our reach
A hug or a knife
a kiss or a gun  
bipolar reminders
confliction runs deep
Every minute and hour
the chase carries on
no safety in hiding
from that which we’re born
Till fate becomes blinded
and hits a dead end
eternity waiting
—the ending forewarned

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

Louis Armstrong …
a class by himself
Not Dixie or Jazz
but much deeper felt

Growing better with age
his music enthralls
If fourteen or forty
his melodies call

Both Ella and Ray
are seated out front
As Satchmo delivers
when others exeunt

Timelessly treasured
he’d broken the mold
Of what sound can measure
—and a smile can hold

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

When I was a boy
this spring house was there
Open and running
with memories to share

When I was a boy
it sat in the field
Above rising water
indentured to yield


When I was a boy
its door opened wide
To capture my fantasy
dreams there to hide

No longer a boy
now buried and hidden  
My hopes and my wishes
—forever unbidden

(Converse Estate: December, 2023)

Chasing the
stoke
waves growing larger

Weekend
warriors
still on the beach

Destiny
calling
mortality daring

Odds
go to hell
above twenty feet

The spray
to the
heavens

Dropping
into
the thunder

Darkness
envelops
one prayer to beseech

The sound
of a
monster

The
howl
of its fury

But nowhere
on earth
—would I rather be

(California Surf: December, 2023)