Speak the truth
at your own risk
Wager fortune
for just one kiss
Walk the tightrope
of joy and pain
No past or future
—the moment gained

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Satan hides
within the shadows
Among your thoughts
his evil trolls
His masquerade
beyond the body
  Feigning silence
inside your soul

He takes up space
at God’s indulgence
The part he plays
unscripted low
In brimstone’s fire
he finds acceptance
From prodigals
his demon’s flow

The battle royal
lasts forever
Cast in darkness
waits his throne
To live in shame
while unrepentant
A trillion souls
—one more to go

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Only when writing
do you become ageless
Communing with eternity
— transcending time

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

My spirit frost bitten
yet still the river flows
Mercy on the distant bank
my fate caught in between
Wishes drift across the ice
but this side holds me fast
Deliverance oh so very near
— in sight beyond my reach

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

You’ll never find out
where you might have gone
If you don’t leave
where you’ve been

You’ll never approach
who you might become
If you change
with every whim

You’ll never discover what’s
over the hill
With both feet stuck
in the sand

You’ll never discern the
right from the wrong
Indecision
—your command

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Complex thoughts
need simple words
The meaning foremost
verse to show

The mind expands
new seeds put down
Cross pollinated
left to grow

The soil fertile
just sun and rain
As fields once fallow
rise anew

The world awaits
each problem solved
In cyphers brief
— with letters few

(Rosemont College: January, 2024)

Intellectual larceny
the academic elite
Immune from indictment
inured and effete
They swing their false knowledge
like weapons to maim
The truth left in ashes
— their lies to inflame

(Septa R5: February, 2024)