Alone
in my boyhood
the adult awaits
impatient indulgence
the year growing late

The woods
and the forest
refuse to let go
my spirit within them
the man to forego

Parents
and teachers
left counting the days
as wonder and whimsy
hold on and delay

The moment
I falter
the day that I fall
that boy left to wander
— where time never calls

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Sometimes
it’s a very good idea
to cry

Sometimes
hello the opening act
of goodbye

Sometimes
what you think about
is not what you know

Sometimes
the reason to come
the best reason to go

Sometimes
when cresting the hill
the view doesn’t change

Sometimes
when cresting the hill
your destiny claimed

Sometimes
when music enthralls
the poetry flows

Sometimes
when music enthralls
there’s nothing to sow

Sometimes
a wish in the wind
beats two in the well

Sometimes
the harder we pray
the closer to hell

Sometimes
just what you ask for
is just what you’ll get

Sometimes
when hope has been lost
— it’s best to forget

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Make sure you know
what you’re trying to say

But let readers figure it out
— for themselves

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Explain the words
and all freedom is gone
Slicing and dicing
enslaved to the throng
Meaning depends
upon whom and what’s heard
Evolving new wings
—each reader a bird

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

I did
I will
I can’t
I don’t

I have
I shall
I shan’t
—I won’t

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Dare to make
it rhyme

Fight for
every sound

Change with
every breath

Leave the world
—profound

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

The Great Chain of Being
it stretches beyond
both forest and meadow
past silence and song

It lays out behind you
to show where you’ve been
eternal before you
far into the din

The Great Chain of Being
attaches us all
through links of connection
from Winter through Fall

One looming question
forever remains
does the chain lie unbroken
—past future the same

(The New Room: January, 2024)