Short
is most sweet
when the sugar
is pure
Its message
like honey
when added
to lure
The Mime
as your server
with candy
implied
Truth
in the tasting
its richness
— to hide

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Wheelchairs
and walkers
in God’s
waiting room
Praying
abeyant
the end
coming soon

Front to
the back
they line
in the queue
Telling their
stories
from memory’s
askew

They wait
and they wonder
who’s next
to go
As all through
the lounge
great grandkids
in tow

New moments
like hen’s teeth
each minute
a year
As walkers
and wheelchairs
rust out
— in the tears

(Dunwoody Retirement Home: September, 2025)

Reimagine the future
honor the past
Live in the moment
first ever last

Change the perspective
fences destroyed
Polar invectives
cursed to employ

The baby and bathwater
image du jour
Becoming the instant
your lens is secured

Honor the future
reimagine the past
Live beyond either
— your essence recast

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Nothing
more precious
than freedom

Nothing
sings louder
than praise

Nothing
more honored
than courage

Nothing
burns hotter
than rage

Nothing
escaping
the moment

Nothing
becomes
what it’s not

Nothing
can be
uncreated

Nothing
released
— till it’s caught

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Crossing the addictions
of body and soul
Delirium tremens
is taking its toll

Like Nitro and Glycerin
waiting to strike
Their coupling disastrous
all day into night

My spirit when willing
the flesh all too weak
Those few days I’m able
my willpower bleak

The detox not working
no cure comes my way
All food tastes like poison
these shakes here to stay

A bomb ticks within me
its fuse ever burns
Tomorrow a concept
long stolen unlearned

With nerve endings fraught
and my body destroyed
These nightmare’s the worst
— when in daylight deployed

(Radnor Pennsylvania: September, 2025)

Do you become
famished
before you get
hungry

Do you become
smitten
when being
alone

Do you become
distant
once over
the target

Do you become
vagrant
though always
at home

Do you become
younger
with wrinkles
upon you

Do you become
foreign
while taking
the pledge

Do you become
angry
and lost
in your garden

Do you become
tempted
when nearing
— the edge

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

A flame
the greatest threat
to the twilight  
of being

One candle
in the darkness
rebirthing
— the night

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

Not the worship of ashes
but transmission of fire
Time at its best
will the Muses inspire

Nostalgia and tears
rebury the past
With passion incarnate
— this moment to last

(Connelly Center: September, 2025)

Training to hear
what cannot be seen
Training to feel
what cannot be deemed
Training to say
what cannot be read
Training to mime
what cannot be said
Training to free
what cannot be caught
Training to know
— what cannot be thought

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

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)

Confronting
the devil’s lawyer
destiny entwined

Heaven and Hell
in the jury box
fate was on the line

The judge
Archangel Raguel
his verdict waits to scream

A sentence cast
in fire untold
— to **** the evil dream

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Soft marches
spawn bravado
and cavalier soldier
He who scoffs
at distant gunfire
to meet its fury
Untested untried
untempered
his blade of little worth
As conflict preys
on the folly
— of the paper lion

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Time
the ultimate
arbiter
of good and bad
Time
the final judge
and jury
— of right and wrong

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Traveling
alone
indentured
down the river
of time

The current
building
and pushing
me
beyond myself

My oars
are traded
for one last
look
around the bend

The anchor
buried
in tidal sands
of lost
belief

My compass
melted
to pay the
toll
of fates arrival

With rudder
steady
as blind
I rush
— into the falls

(Front & Erie Ave’s: August, 2025)

You don’t have to buy the land
to own the changing landscape
Whose vista priceless yours inside
to live in mortgage free

Or fly a rocket toward the sun
to view each day’s horizon
That comes and goes both East and West
in transitory joy

You don’t have to buy a car
to travel to tomorrow
New pathways wait beyond conveyance
old footsteps in the sand

Or buy a boat and sail the seas
to hear the ocean’s roar
The transience of each crashing wave
— a gift unwrapping free

(Ronald McDonald House: August, 2025)

Richness of mind
the money no matter
A visual feast
uncountable wealth

Conceptual bullion
perceptual bitcoin
Intuitive treasure
— a fortune indwelt

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

I can’t afford
pride
I’m poorer
than that

I can’t afford
humility
Accomplishment
lacks

I can’t afford
vengeance
All hate
for myself

And least afford
love
Emotion
— unfelt

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Everybody
wants to go
to Heaven
(but)
Nobody
wants
to die

Everybody
want to change
the truth
(but)
Nobody
wants
to lie

Everybody
wants to bend
the law
(but)
Nobody
wants
to get caught

Everybody
wants to fall
in love
(but)
Nobody
wants  
— pain and loss

(The New Room: August, 2025)

People
surround
but I’m always
alone
In naked
seclusion
fleeing
the throne
Caught in
the snarl
of their
consonant rhyme
Shunning
all
overtures
— fields still unlined

(Gardiner Montana: August, 2025)

Three more hours
to sleep
unopposed

Three more hours
from verses
supposed

Three more hours
of quiet
and peace

Three more hours
my dreams
to appease

Three more hours
where time
has been screened

Three more hours
to live
in between

Three more hours
not hither
or yon

Three more hours
a reckoning
— dawn

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

To catch a wolf
become the wolf
where tracks lead distant
to trails beyond

His nose on fire
and fangs bare fronted
to follow closely
all fear withdrawn  

He marks each turning
with blood ill letted  
to lure the hunter
on death’s foray

This sojourn ends  
in wooded darkness
to enter once
— your fate to prey

(Beartooth Mountain: August, 2025)

Rising
by sin
falling
by virtue
Caught in the
blind spot
of destiny’s
rhyme

Words
overweight
in consonant
sorrow
Vowels
deftly stolen
inverting
— the time

(Cooke City Montana: August, 2025)

Killing
time
without
wounding
eternity
Life
in the
balance
life
— on the edge

(Red Lodge Montana: August, 2025)

Loving
the solitude
Loving
the silence
Hating
consensus
Hating
refrain

Loving
the magic
Loving
the present
Hating
the reference
Hating
— proclaims

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

To carry life’s
complex messages
The structure
must be simple

Like angle iron
at ninety degrees
the weight to never
buckle

A thrusted spear
a hammer punch
direction
short and measured

Effects most dire
with arrows fired
from bows
— most straight delivered

(Chief Joseph Highway: August, 2025)

The Mountain
looms
and calls your name
To glory
or
perdition

Its summit
has a thousand
fathers
Whose abyss
awaits
— the orphan

(Beartooth Pass: August, 2025)

I can’t build
the bridge
But I can cross it
when asked

I can’t mark
the trail
But I can follow
when tasked

I can’t light
the fire
But I can warm
in its glow

I can’t walk
on water
But I can bathe
in its flow

I can’t play
the harp
But know an Angel
with hands

I can’t save
the masses
But love a Savior
— who can

(The First Book Of Prayers: August, 2025)

Common Sense
uncommon
Wisdom
in the queue
Figures lie
as liar’s figure
Judgment
— left askew

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

With children
a house becomes alive
Without them
an empty shell
With children
new moments of joy arrive
Without them
an unringing bell

With children
laughter stays in the air
Without them
but memories dwell
With children
the years to age unimpaired
Without them
— all magic is quelled

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

The emptiness of
possibility
One hand clapping
— in the wind

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

I’m not going to
watch you leave
but I’ll revel in the fact
you’re gone ...
I’m not going to say
goodbye
while I bask in the silence
heard ...
I’m not going to speak
your name
but I’ll covet what stays
unsaid ...
I’m not going to return
your love
while throwing our tryst
— to the wind

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Humanity
comes before
the fact
Sentimentality
comes
after
One steeped
in joy
the other remorse
To shout from
the basement
— or rafters

(The New Room: August, 2025)

The last curtain came down
one evening at nine
its drapery falling
to signal ‘it’s time’
The theater dark
all stagehands have gone
alone in her presence
my final swan song
The exit door opens
a new crowd appears
applauding me onward
past laughter and tears
With one final bow
but never so sure
eternity clapping
— forever’s encore

(The Bryn Mawr Theater: August, 2025)

Stay in the
moment
Time but
a myth
Capture
the essence
Whose instant
encrypts

The truth
of the matter
The heart
of it all
Where feelings
explode
In prescience
— recalled

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

A master of time
the true lord of himself
Eternity on hold
the moment indwelt

The world at his beckon
tomorrow recalled
This instant his present
— forever enthralled

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

Writing without
imagery
Breathing without
air
Seeing without
vision
Loving without
care

Words without
meaning
Voice without
song
Hope without
promise
Night without
— dawn

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

As good
as they got
Clapton
Allman and Page
Their music
still borrowed
the Delta
on stage

Technique
in the offing
devoid
of the pain
As juke joints
and crop shares
sing out
— in refrain

(The New Room: August, 2025)

To bring forth the truth
— most holy
To bring forth the light
— Divine

(1st Book Of Prayers: August, 2025)

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)