The only child
but favorite
of two ‘outlaws’
mare and stud

He bucked each
gelded moment
on their wild ride
of love

Until that day
he up and left
their branding iron
of pain

To wander high
and lonesome
mongst the free  
and tumbling sage

In search of one
last bronc to mount
that one last
horn to make

And spur the wreckage
of his youth
as Angels
— pull the Gate


(Pendleton Round-Up: June, 1993
Elko Nevada: Cowboy Poetry Reading: January, 1994)

“No Man Is An Island”
but that was before smart phones
To text and to tweet
technology’s drones

With ear buds in place
these Stepford’s march on
Virtually connecting
— to what’s already gone

(University of Pennsylvania: June, 2025)

Built on envy
and city lights
The vagrant actor
alone at night

In hidden alleys
with tinsel thorns
On celluloid
new lies are born

A big screen promise
of broken dreams
The waitress car hop
on Wilshire scheme

Drugged on stardom
with toxic friends
What footlight’s start
— the darkness ends

(The New Room: June, 2025)

The staff of my Father enjoining the past
futurity’s herding a bleating morass
The bloodline of orphans forever is linked
tattooing the flock with invisible ink
The first time the last time when nearing the end
tomorrow’s ungifted excuses portend
And times better nature is better untimed
beginning and ending forever conjoined
Eternity’s fenceposts hem in with disdain
all future inclemency fire and rain
But just as that last final sheep stays unsold
— my Father returns to re-shepherd the fold

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

It’s great
that they read us
a joy
when they say
“I loved your
last poem
the best one
today”

We post
and we thank them
for all
that they give
Refilling
our pens
with more reasons
— to live

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

The psychic tattoo
of paternity
darker than
fate’s blackest ink

The guilted knife
of maternity
cutting you
near to the brink

A prodigy alone
in the shadows
offspring of
scorn and disdain

Begging for love
and acceptance
from parents
— called heartache and pain

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

I said
what I had
to say

And did
what I had
to do

While asking
no one
to care

And seeking
nothing
from you

I went
where I had
to go

And saw
what I had
to see

To get
where I had
to get

And be
what I had
— to be

(Bryn Mawr College: June, 2025)

A Hall of Mirrors
ill conceived
With dark reflections
to deceive
From front or back
and side to side
Each look impounds
what time proscribes

Were you looking in
or looking out
When Alice voiced
her final shout
A dozen clonings
a thousand views
The glass your jailer
— in silver hues

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Expressions
of spirit
the music
plays on

Beyond any
verbiage
or words
come and gone

At high
elevations
each note
takes you up

To reach
into heaven
where feelings
conduct

As harp
strumming Angels
with harmony
strong

Play chords
of acceptance
to guide
— you along

(1st Book Of Prayers: June, 2025)

Joy
cannot last
Few moments
contain
The unbridled
feeling
Euphoria
claims

Joy
but a transient
It comes
and it goes
Resetting
our wishes
To bask
— in its glow

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Do you write
pretty words
with a message
unchanged

Does intent
leave you vacant
the darkness
sustained

Do you ponder
and flirt
in a language
affair

Do you kiss
and then tell
without promise
or care

Do you vow
to do better
with love
on reprieve

Does your heart
leave you jilted
next breath
— to deceive

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

I made it to
the edge of thought
with consciousness
ablaze
I escaped the fire
but not the heat
all memory
a haze
I just got out
when fate attacked
from inside
burns the past
To leave me orphaned
without a home
my legacy
— in ash

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Poets
who cry
Jesters
goodbye
Alone
in the dark
Old heartaches
to mark

Time
closing in
Memories
thin
Whispers
and tears
Finality
— near

(Villanova University: June, 2025)

I’d gladly take
one verse
ill written
Than a tome
explicit
with words
unfelt

I’d gladly take
one moon
still distant
Than a sunrise
hidden
by rain
that pelts

I’d gladly take
one real
good tiding
Than a score
of praises
that slap
my back

I’d gladly take
one heart
on fire
Than a million
minds
no souls
— attached

(Villanova University: June, 2025)

The beginning
of the end
The end
of the beginning
To look
and not see
A desperate
path

To start
what can’t finish
Destroying
tomorrow
When eyes
remain closed
The future
— uncast

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Politics & Religion
boneyard
of existence
Power & Corruption
misleading
in kind
Promising & Deceiving
legislation
and dogma
Politics & Religion
deathtrap
— for mankind


(The New Room: June, 2025)

A mouthful
of hate
A bullhorn
of lies
Dissected
infected
With terminal
pride
Conscripting
the fledgling
Embedded
in brine
Indicted
convicted
True felons
— of time

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Ella sent the invitation
Louis worked the door
to celebrate between the lines
inflection served du jour

My heart was given freely
their phrasings lined my soul
beyond the words and melody
goodbye to rock and roll

The Saints Were Marching In
as Satch blew his horn with glee
(and Ella said)
No, No They Can’t Take That
— Away From Me

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

The Pride And The Longing

One man’s ‘Old Days’
another man’s ‘New’
Chasing a memory
the pilgrim is due

One reminisces
what one only schemes
The pride and the longing
— two sides of a dream

(Ardmore Pennsylvania: June, 2025)


Shades Of Gray

Mixing wheat
with the chaff
The good
with the bad
In shadings
of gray
The truth
finds a home

Taking shape
from the whole
When shunning
both ends
Polarity’s
vanish
And clarity
— shown

(Ardmore Pennsylvania: June, 2025)

*****
in tatters
Gomorrah
is ash
L.A. lies
burning
New York
in the trash

Cowards
run rampant
Weakness
endeared
Our heritage
shattered
With traitors
— revered

(Inside The Fire: June, 2025)

With over forty
years apart
let’s pretend
it’s just a day
That time we’ve lost
and what it cost
to ignore
and look away

We can’t tunnel
through the heartache
but a bridge over
can be built
To put behind
those days unrhymed
with tomorrow
— yet unfelt

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Truth untangled
darkness shines
Terse in format
long on tone
Silence Christened
sin bemoans

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Said but once
forever chime
One breath frees
indentured words
Locked away
— in verse unheard

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

That gear to move forward
is often reverse
The best choice of words
fortune hides in a curse
Our holiest blessing
an omen that warns
And friendship most sacred
in traitor’s reborn
Today frees tomorrow
once yesterday’s gone
Each phrase that escapes us
new words to a song
The time of the season
Fall Winter and Spring
A Summer of angels
— new devils will bring

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

In the back
of my mind
there’s a shadow
Covering
what’s never
to be

In the back
of my mind
there’s a memory
Reminding
what’s dearest
to me

In the back
of my mind
there’s a longing
Driving
me constantly
on

In the back
of my mind
there’s a mantra
Repeating
its message
— in song

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

I learned many things from him ...

That the trackless path
is gifted
to those
who believe
That the distance
between thoughts
can only be connected
by words
That the idea itself
is worthless
without the thing
it expressed
That tomorrow
is no more important
than yesterday
or today
That the bullfighter
must never die
with the bull
still alive
That revolution
is the truest place
where death
is reborn
That real courage
is only measured
by the one
sorely lacking
That to love her once
is better
than to love
her again
That you must
when you must
until the bugles
have stopped
That worshipping
oneself
is life’s fatal
devotion
That the jungle
we chase
is the jungle
we live in
That the willingness
to say it
frees a willingness
to act
That each great new
adventure
begets a greater
new ending
That in the tears
of a stranger
bleeds the heart
— of a friend

(Key West: January, 1994)

The curse of the writer
woo’s angels and devils
Chasing the daylight
far into the night

Each phrasing an omen
of hope or foreboding
With lines that entangle
— in lost delight

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

There’s a lingering shadow
that follows us all
Counting each breath
each step till we fall

Its pall ever darkens
while just out of reach
Its voice heard to whisper
through mountain and beach

It sees every moment
both joyous and sad
Recording our journey
the good and the bad

And then on that day
when our fate meets the end
Its arms wrap around us
— our very last friend

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Through struggle
one can justify life
Losing the battle
enhances the view
Blood on the rails
all markings assured
Death as the prize
— recurring anew

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Writer’s write
Speaker’s speak  
(and never)
— the twain shall meet

(Ketchum Idaho: August, 1983)

Too much
of too much
— is never enough

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Lighting Tomorrow

Memory’s
lantern
near empty
unfilled

Each night
in the darkness
to flicker
until

Your eye
without warning
a flash
unexplained

Forever
relighting
and fanning
— the flame

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)


Shamal Winds

Lost
in the deepest
recesses of myself
And happier
than I have
any right to be
The hidden
regions
my newfound oasis
A Bedouin
convert
— home among the sands

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Infestation

The American Dream
becoming
a nightmare ...
Conscripted
by strangers
new thieves in the night
Usurping
our freedoms
embedded among us
Invested in nothing
but
— what they can steal

(University Of Pennsylvania: June, 2025)


Leaving The Noise

He came into
silence
like fish
take to water

The only thing
constant
his being
alone

To wander
the alleys
of quiet
reception

The noise
and confusion
for others
— to drone

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Looking back
speed is warped
looking forward
it slows
Each memory
a racehorse
that goes
and it goes

Intuition
the truant
in what it
will bring
When time
is reversed
and the Jester
— is King

(The New Room: June, 2025)

In flowering
wishes
a feeling
unfolds

A vase
sits awaiting
its love
to arrive

Each petal
of hope
in a blossom
untold

Till picked
from the valley
of passion
— alive

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Walking South
on the beach
in front of Doral
I heard a woman sing ...
“If you put the man
back in romance
I’ll put the lay
back in lady”
Catching up to her
I asked
where she first
heard the song
She said: “It’s mine
do you like it?
It still
needs more work
I was hoping
this walk
would enchant
or inspire”
At the Fontainebleau
I said: “I do very much
Let me help you write
the second verse”

(Miami Beach: 1982)

Dreams Of ‘Papa’

Burning fat
off your soul
with each word
that he wrote

Every vision
a banquet
to swallow
or choke

In the ring
or arena
with blood
boiling high

A man greets
the dragon
with hello
— or goodbye

(Dreams Of Papa: May, 2025)


Sins Of Omission

Intending
to deceive
with words
unsaid
In your
silence
truth denied

What’s stays
on mute
voiced in
your head
Its  
intention
— vilified    

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Smyllum Park

The great
deceivers
hope and affection
Leave you
a foundling
an orphan of joy
As twins
they’re conscripted
in fields of abandon
Where life takes
no solace
and heartache
— deploys

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Into The Breach

Every war
is different
Every war’s
the same
Bullets fly
and soldiers die
With valor
— to rename

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Crossing Over

A whispered dare
a final vow
the Rubicon behind

New Light ahead
through smoke and blood
the final victim — time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Self-Owned

Remember
the day
you became entitled
to yourself

No debts to pay
no last charade
the circle closed
— indwelt

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Reflection

Do we just recall
a memory
Or its cause
and its effect

Is consciousness
a chain of links
To front load
— or dissect

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Beatitude

The deeper you question
the more you constrain
God’s true existence
to never explain

Loosen your grip
on what holds you back
Surrender to glory
— Divinity’s tack

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)


The Only Thing

Winning is always
undefeated
Score
to tell the tale

The victory plum
is zero sum
With glory
— to regale

(The New Room: May, 2025)


All Is Now

Unplugging tomorrow
recharging today
Conscripting the moment
— inside which we pray

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)

Forbidden Ground

Wandering
beyond the limitation
of death
Trespassing
through the back gate
of forever
Maundering
alone in a ******
wilderness
Witnessing
the future destruction
—  of time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Bookends

Enough to be absent
he fumbled the words  
His mind ever vacant
new truancies heard

Those spaces beyond him
those spaces behind
Bookends of fruition
— unspoken defined

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Sognefjord Waiting

A mile
past tomorrow
a glacier
lies at rest
New memories stored
within its fjord
awaiting
— our behest

(The New Room: May, 2025)

Religion ...
*****
of the poor
And roadmap
of the forever
— lost

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

Some go
through life
in a sophomoric
zone

Knowing about
strangers
while being
alone

To ever
quote names
or that face
in the crowd

Aggrandizing
self
as their folly
— astounds

(Reading Market Philadelphia: May, 2025)

A Poet dies
and
the world lives
to mourn
Rereading his
words
a new spirit
is born

In paradigms
searching
for hope and
reprieve
His memory
calls out
to those
— who believe

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Wrap your poem
around nothing
its bow mocked
in relief
Each word
but a gesture
of empty
deceit

Wrap your verse
in a vacuum
where all speech
is abhorred
The power
of emptiness
alone
— and unscored

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Days beyond memory
born in perfection
Light unrefracted
teasing the sun

Time without numbers
thought unencumbered
Lost in beginnings
— never to end

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Immortality
a panacea
if not for the cost
— mortality

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

I heard
death call
before seeing
its face
Far in
the distance
it sent
its embrace

Each sound
an omen
betrothed
deep inside
Announcing
the groom
awaiting
— the bride

(The New Room: May, 2025)

YEARS
into months
MONTHS
into weeks
WEEKS
into days
DAYS
into hours
HOURS
into minutes
MINUTES
into seconds
SECONDS
into moments
MOMENTS
— sublime

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

The bow of
God’s wrath
is restrung in
the dark
To target
injustice
and hate
as its mark
Each arrow
His judgment
of life
in the main
And striking
dead center
He frees us
— again

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

In the end
we die alone

In the end
no blade to hone

In the end
do Angel’s call

In the end
when rhythm stalls

In the end
which deck unstacks

In the end
our health attacked

In the end
we pray for more

In the end
but fate endures

In the end
one final change

In the end
whose face remains

In the end
the bonds break free

In the end
— one last decree

(Radnor Pennsylvania: May, 2025)

Can you hope
to guarantee
the truth
of conclusion

The paradox
of confirmation
the duality
of illusion

Can you swear
on ten bibles
only lying
on nine

With assurances
granted
before losing
— your mind

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Perception
is the potion
where pudding
holds the proof

The details
get bedeviled
Martini’s
all Vermouth

A good girl
or a bad girl
the wind
can blow both ways

Looking right
or looking left
the truth
— not on display

(The New Room: May, 2025)

“Handmaid of Patriarchy”  
the garden rezoned
Embattled virility
misogyny cloned
As Delilah revolts  
a new Samson on scene
One half of the whole
left to drown in the stream
Each genders new quotient
to minus the plus
A He without Her
— the destruction of us

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2025)