You can’t destroy
a word
like vanquishing
an enemy

Its meaning cast
immortal
beyond
— victory or death

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

We could’ve
we would’ve
we should’ve
— but we didn’t

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Oh
to leave all chains
on top
of the mountain

Oh
to leave a world
setting
— everything free

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

I don’t know
what it is

I know
what it isn’t

Revealed
in the offing

An image
— takes form

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

He climbed atop
an oak on fire
Its sap transformed  
by flames concealed  

Each branch he passed
a year he traded
For what’s unseen
— by heat congealed

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

True innovation
emerges
from disruption
The sparks
of collision
— lighting the way

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

A prisoner
of sentience
escape
self-denial

Incarcerated
deep inside
with voices
dark and vile

A prisoner
of every thought
his mind
a burning feast

The moments that
protected him
before
protect him least

A prisoner
of déjà vu
where now
and then conspire

His name convicted
to the flames
all dreams
— within the fire

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)