The ***** laundry
of democracy
Near impossible
to clean

You bask in freedom
until it’s gone
Whose nightmare kills
the dream

Warts and pimples
in plain view
Perfection
for the sage

To govern
as the Lord decrees
Our liberty
uncaged

To make those choices
for yourself
And pay the price
be ******

Instead of letting
tyrants rule
To serve
— at their command

(Villanova University: September, 2025)

Don’t let
your spark
become a fuse
blowing up
the truth

Don’t let
the flame
become a blaze
burning down
your youth

Don’t be the
kindling
become the tree
that reaches
and extends

Don’t be
accused
of lighting the match
on what
— should never end

(The New Room: September, 2025)

Were you saved
from yourself
before first being born
Form without
matter
praise without scorn
Were you part
of the promise
not taking the vow
When time
was a servant
not death on the prowl
Did life stay
unbidden
when freedom was free
As daylight
till dusk
no I’s came to be
Did morning
chase daylight
unable to stop
The evening
and twilight
on sale to be bought
As the first step
was taken
the second disowned
The first cut
the deepest
— with nothing on loan

(The New Room: September, 2025)

Waiting
for the
audience
to come to him ...
He refused
to go to them

Shunning
those ears
that hide
from the truth ...
Like a rose
without its stem

Working
in concert
with Muses
above ...
What’s sacred
to remain

Each word
and its
treasure
a gift given once ...
Their measure
— to proclaim

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Never complain
never explain
Life on the margins
others sustain
Freeing both ends
caught in the middle
Releasing the truth
— solving the riddle

(To Cole Porter: September, 2025)

Poetry

Neither hobby
nor pastime
its grip ever
grows

Its hold on my
heart
through the drought
and the snow

Each word
that it sends me
each phrase
to impound

And blessing
the silence
my Savior
— resounds

(1st Book of Prayers: August, 2025)

Divine Wind

Shinto
or Buddhist
the Samurai
served

Their honor
and legiance
in blood
was preserved

The sword
as their mantle
and spiritual
Lord

Death
was their preference
dishonor
— abhorred

(Shinjuku Museum: October, 2003)


Betwixt & Between

Better or worse
those two oxymorons
Lying in wait
entrapping the weak

Lo  and Behold
they claim self-importance
Lo and Behold
thoughts watered and meek

Polar extremes
they float barely conscious
To lure you between them
and hold you quite mad

Bye after Bye
they muddle your choices
Bye after Bye
— good orphaned with bad

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

My Chronology
ages
as my writing
stays young

The years
in retreat
as each new song
is sung

A number
but unit
of folly
relayed

Whose essence
a symbol
of prescience
— in play

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)