You love the Ocean
as it comes
I love the Ocean
as it goes
Caught in its tide
of becoming
Washed in the change
— of its flow

(Yarmouth Massachusetts: September, 1974)

Controlling
the language
Controlling
the power
Defining
tomorrow
With words
of today

Converting
the juncture
Converting
the instant
Defining
the moment
With all
that you say

Blessing
your loved ones
Blessing
your enemies
Cursing
the liars
Redeeming
the lost

Asking
new questions
Asking
for answers
Loving
the value
In spite of
— the cost

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Thou asks how far the wind blows
in fact I cannot tell
Or then how high the heavens
my prayers deep in the well

Thou asks if love comes truly
to one in greatest need
My answer spoken duly
of romance undecreed

Thou asks if truth be spoken
or written timeless down
My speech in patterns broken
unlettered and unfound

Thou asks if time be measured
beyond the last refrain
This moment hides the answer
—of that I can proclaim

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)

Hallowed
are the dreamers
that sit
along the rails
To watch the trains
go rolling by
for places
left unveiled

Hallowed
the anointed
unpunched
their tickets clean
To see through eyes
that time can’t buy
true islands
— in the stream

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

In the shadow
of perfection
time stops
— as eternity takes form

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Papa said ...
“Sentimental
people are cruel”
trading what might be
for what is

Filling their plates
with what’s not
on the menu
longing for soda
without fizz

Papa wrote
distant
always bringing it close
while leaving the weak
to surmise

With feeling
embodied
in hardscrabble words
to challenge but death
— so implied

(Gertrude Stein Remembers: August, 2025)

Do you like
knowing
or the idea
of knowledge
The pretense
of perception
or a wellspring
sublime

Political
correctness
or the search
for a moonbeam
Relighting
your way
as you glow
— in its shine

(The New Room: August, 2025)