Does worry only exist
in our memory
Or is foresight
required to fret

Will a bear live in fear
of the hunter
Or ignore what
might happen unmet

When alarm bells go off
in the moment
Rejecting the
future and past

Is time at its essence
but present
All reference
— a rationalist caste

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Once she performed it
she made it her own
With joy we all listened
and marveled atoned

Endowed from the heavens
the Angels in awe
Her spirit celestial
your nerve endings raw

A voice for all seasons
Grand Madam of sound
To search for a lifetime
her like never found

While crossing each genre
she made time a slave
Her stylings eternal
— a gift heaven gave

(For Aretha Franklin: January, 2024)

Living in one
renting the other
Owning them both
then to discover
As owner I’m captive
the tenant is free
In debt to the banker
—remortgaging me

(The New Room: January, 2024)

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)