Disarmed

Bullets fall silent
against words
well chosen

Their caliber
muted
— the target on fire

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Stuck In Gear

Motion
not an absolute
The world
is never still

Inertia
tries to write the law
Where stop and start
are nil

History
at the speed of light
Consensus
in the math

But standing
here
While stuck in gear
— the notion leaves me flat

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Before The After

Don’t bog down
in research
Spontaneity
the thing
Truth
is most elusive
And joy
a passing Spring

In flashes
of an instant
What’s timeless
will appear
Thinking often
kills the goose
That lays
— both far and near

(Villanova University: March, 2024)



Deafening Silence

Things most often named
before understood
Then never renamed
for the bad or the good

‘Particles of light’
we now know as waves
But ad infinitum
their reference stays

A ‘Tablet of Paper’
consisting of sheets
Two ‘Bolts’ of lightning
fused Franklin’s belief

A ‘Softball’s’ still deadly
meant to careen
And ‘Deafening Silence’
— spurs wonder indeed


(Villanova University: March, 2024)

My Father died at 63
I’m now 75
I remember the day
I turned 63
Thinking I would finally know
What he knew
Be able to feel what he felt
See what he saw
And to be who he was
But I wasn’t a decorated
World War 2 Marine
The last of his platoon
To survive
The Solomon Islands the graveyard
Of most of his friends
He died on a Thursday
But we were estranged
‘Another woman who was not my Mom’
Looking back I wonder
What could I have changed
What words would I have used
To say to him …

(To Edward F. Behm U.S.M.C.: March, 2024)

Answering The Past

I tell you what
you ask me why
Inside this ring
of time disguised
Two hundred reasons
passing go
Retracing steps
— of long ago

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Forever Now

Make your bed with today
no one’s promised tomorrow
The present is visceral
its moment at hand
Repeating itself
in joy and in sorrow
The instant eternal
— forever Divine

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Lost To Oneself

What do the years mean
when they come to an end
Their number a folly
if hearts cannot mend
A month or a decade
results but the same
‘With feeling abandoned
— a life spent in vain

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



The Moment Blessed

The future
can be avoided
the present cannot

The past but
a door prize
to what you have not

To live in
the moment’s  
eternal refrain

A blessing
self given
— again and again

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)



Calling Us Home

Drawn into the light
arms open wide
to hear
that song again

Which ushered
us here
replaying clear
— by Angels from within

(1st Book  Of Prayers: March, 2024)



A Choice

The grey winter
of dismal intention
recurs with a vengeance
— until you say NO

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

Speak of the devil
he will appear
Trailing your thoughts
relining your fears

Tail of the dragon
wages of sin
Your ninth life in ashes
— fire within

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

She believed in Astrology
he believed in her
Their White House chart in symbols strange
whose doctrine ebbed and flowed
She believed the stars made sense
her love had made him blind
To what his darkest fears had robbed
— a modern day Tom Joad

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Through the eye of the needle
Not to the left or the right
Dodging both on the comets tail

I streak into the light
My last wish out in front
As words melt in a fiery contrail

And with only one question
To weaken my heart
With only one thing to know

The seasons entwine
All beanstalks are felled
With the exit signs all aglow

I crash through the doubt
Releasing new hope
My affirmation now to reign

And look ever farther
Beyond my scope
As my senses become untrained

I feel the loose pieces
Start to come off
A new lightness here abounds

The last burden has lifted
Burning bright in my wake
Crossing over—turned around

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

If you use the word languish
I’m stopping my read
When you speak the word nurture
I’m far from intrigued  
If I hear you say milieu
I run for the door
Or when you spout genre
my ears to abhor
They’re chosen to impress
when the meaning is weak
Concealing the emptiness
of all that you speak
‘A labyrinth of dilettantes’
penning your verse
Can’t hide what is missing
— with these words you assert

(The New Room: February, 2024)

“Age but a number”
if only that were true
Yesterday reborn again
— memories renewed

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Moments Beyond Time

In search of fresh meat
the future will come
Hour predestined
the hunt zero sum

As seconds approach
impending attack
Free every moment
—time dead in its tracks


(The New Room: February, 2024)


Why

Why isn’t God
transcending
my doubt
Each day more distant
the louder
I shout
Why can’t the Lord
acknowledge
my pain
The light
growing dimmer
— the more I proclaim

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Innocent tonight
— guilt waits with the dawn

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

In a fantasyland
of their own creation
politicians spawn
Spreading their eggs of division
and lies
among bottom feeding pawns

Propagating treason
corruption and graft
to freely flow downstream
Carrying our destiny
over the falls
— of shattered broken dreams

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Life’s meandering journey …
mapped by a fool
Clairvoyant foretelling
the dilettante’s tool
Around every corner
the road twists and bends
A marble or diamond
— but choice to portend

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Present Unwrapped

Plan for tomorrow
live for today
the moment redeeming
future caches

Say what you mean
do what you say
the circle enclosing
— truth on display


(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Palace Rules

No worse enemy
than an ex-friend
No better friend
— than an enemy turned

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)




Empty Promises

Caring not much
for what I haven’t seen
Deaf to those voices
still trapped in between

Caring not much
for what I haven’t been
Each promise stays empty
— not kept from within

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



White Buffalo

Can you …
Know
without thinking  
Win
without beating
See
without judging
Cry
without pain
Speak
without stricture
Come
without staying
Wish
without hoping
Share
without claim
Hear
without language
Curse
without malice
Hunt
without preying
Rule
without reign
Fly
without plumage
Dance
without music
Love
without taking
Die
— without shame

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Left To Wander

Confusion’s underbelly
frustration’s embryo
Orphaned seeds of black and white
spread where nothing grows
Choices wander celibate
new pregnancy unfound
Up or down left to right
— dubiety impounds

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Incognito

Thinking the worst
of people
life has cast a pall

To cover my
intentions
— and camouflage the fall

(Dreamsdleep: February, 2024)


Warring Words

Poets
are the bravest  
writers …
you know who you are

Scattered
among
the Johnny Come Latelys
battered up and scarred

Each word
proffered
born of pain
raised in discontent

Dying once
to live again
unwilling
— to relent

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Winning

First and foremost
success is an
entrepreneurial venture
— not a management exercise

(To Dartmouth Students: January, 2012)

Casting Off The Bow Line

Goodbye
my ***** darling
I’m married
to this dream

Freedom
calling out to me
betrothal thus
redeemed

Bachelorhood
a Siren’s calling
Feted tween
the sails

Truant winds
to act upon
Legends
tell the tale

Setting off
this final time
Rudder
in my hand

Truth when hoisted
up the mast
Liberty
— commands

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

So Imbued

Crime without sanction
honor among thieves
Tomatoes tomattos
prudish obscene

Rules as their written
intention entwined
Good becomes bad
sight becomes blind

Credence engendered
by those so imbued
A prince or a pauper
depends on your view

The world in a tailspin
no two think the same
the baby the bathwater
— praising the blame  

(The New Room: February, 2024)


Time Awaits

Not connected to
the dollar

Courted
never wed

Engaged to no one
but himself

Making
his own bed

All fame and fortune
lost to fate

Constancy
of mind

Whose future readers
time awaits

His legacy
— to find

(The New Room: February, 2024)

When faith is abandoned
we live on old dreams
In time captured wastelands
barren demeaned
Believing the tattler
and spinner of lies
Desperation is sainted
epistles decry

“Music plays in keys of pain
shouting from below
Missals singed in pagan fire
ashes still aglow
Caught out on a bridge alone
burning from both ends
Martyred in our heresy
— darkness to befriend”

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

From The Coal Mine …

Liars …
early prophets
of impending doom

(The New Room: February, 2024)


The Moment Shared

We often forget
wrapped up
in our own drama
— that everyone feels the same

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



Circle Game

The purpose of war
is peace
The guarantor of peace
— is war

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



Crucibles

Moss
hides the message
Whose altar
ascends
In joy’s
adulation
The pilgrimage
— ends

(1st Book Of Prayers: February, 2024)



I Bequeath Thee …

Birthing a memory
o’er future and past
To carry my words
inside others to last

Birthing a memory
o’er time and space
To those still unborn
— my welcoming grace

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



Four Steps

Incinerate
all kindling that burns
Articulate
the knowledge that yearns
Reciprocate
before it’s your turn
Elucidate
— each lesson hard earned

(The New Room: February, 2024)


True Fortune

Good health is loaned
— but never owned

(Deamsleep: February, 2024)

Conation

Have you tilted the axis
on a new tomorrow
Have you changed with intention
— the direction of time

(The New Room: February, 2024)



Round Peg — Square Holes

The poetry of mathematics
— oxymoronic at best

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)





Robert The Bruce

War is won
before the first battle fought
Willful intention
the enemy caught

Decision a crossbow
empowered by choice
The spirit retracting
— a conquering voice

(Stonehenge: March, 1987)


Apate

Captive of emotion
— prisoner of deceit

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Crossing Over

Attending his own funeral
no tears were exchanged
No grieving or mourning
— but memory remained

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

In Memoriam

People won’t remember you
because of your money
The human spirit bereft
by your dollars in vain
History won’t revere you
because of your tokens
Your legacy built upon
— prescience ordained

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



Blood Trail

Don’t get ****** into choosing
both sides are bad
The Left or the Right
their massages sad

The Right tries to promise
what Leftist’s sublate
Two sides to a trap
— where lies are the bait

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


“What Simple Folk Do …”

Only inside ordinary things
is the extraordinary released
Baptized new day after day
eternity unleashed

Only by embracing what’s common amongst us
as Arthur knew so well
Can we move on to where it starts
beyond heaven — beyond hell

(Memories Of Camelot: February, 2024)


Making Our Bed

The silence of death
lives in the future
Sleeping with memories
— of yesterday’s past

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Rays Of Light

Information contextual
never absolute
Naked in isolation
relative and moot

Inspiration celestial
gifted from the throne
Sending rays to light the dark
— truth to stand alone

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Science

One step
forward
two steps back

Look around
you
see the facts

Sky scraped
cities
health care gods

Obese
on drugs
gender fog

Ghetto
masters
children ******

War
a plaything
religion owned

Information
but a mask
to hide us from the truth

DNA
and quantum theory
— kills the Golden Goose

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Dreamsleep

No words into boxes
all Muses set free
Not quatrain or sonnet
or limerick for me
The feeling’s unleashing
the verse as decreed
Whose words birth inside me
— unspoken in dreams

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Feelings

They come to
me vacant

No plans
to deceive

In silence
they wait

My words
— to conceive

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Mors Spiritualis

Spiritual *******
who is to blame
The prophets the poets
lascivious shame

With prurient verses
stark naked their prose
Defaming what’s ******
their lust to impose

And when they have finished
exposing their ruse
They choke on its meaning
and die self-abused

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)



Divinity’s Pew

The truth stands in contrast
to only itself
Once mentioned eternal
when thought and then felt
It lives in the ether
past fortune or fame
Conscripted by conscience
no praise and no blame
The truth beyond reason
beyond lies or consent
The lucky among us
to follow its scent
Its trail leads to faith
divinity’s pew
Transforming the moment
— you first say I do

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)



Freezing The Moment

Are you the
lead actor
within your own myth

The script
ever changing
the past in its crypt

Can you freeze
the moment
with only one word

The Angel’s
applauding
— the devil unheard

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)



Salt Lick

Politicians
endow a sword
to the few
— to command the many

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)


Modern Education

Learning more
about less and less
Feeling torn
in great duress
Faith attacked
we hide from myths
Real love scorned
— ourselves we kiss

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)


Marx In Hell

Political salvation
the god of failure
Beatifying the collective
— on the devil’s throne

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)


Gnostic Dreams

The brighter the glare
we discover around us
The darker the light
stays hidden within
Secular salvation
a digital failure
God’s imminent nature
— indistinguishable from ours

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)


‘Sage To The Court Jester …’

God’s truth — Man’s truth
bridging the difference
trust in the Muse

(Rosemont College: February, 2024)

Living Well — Dying Well
precepts of destiny
bookends of fate

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

+  —  

Patience and time
Courage or fear
Pleasure then pain
Smiles and tears

Future and past
Joy or remorse
Vision when blind
Blessing or curse

Borrow or steal
Praise and then blame
Life unto death
Loss or a gain

Reason and anger
Random or fate
Plussing the minus
— open the gate

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



Body & Soul

Disease …
robs you
of your health

Dementia …
robs you
of yourself

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


\

Politics and war
twin pillars of conflict
“Charge into weakness
retreat if there’s strength”  

High in the tower
dividing to conquer
Fate looking down
— as your destiny waits

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Closing his eyes
one last time
a man can finally see

Opening his heart
time undone
feelings Joie de Vivre

Moving beyond
future and past
returning to the source

Hearing that voice
bathed in the Light
—  love his Tour de Force


(The 1st Book  Of Prayers: February, 2024)

The quicksand of anticipation
— the fire below

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Chameleosis

A changing experience
— is not an experience of change

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Dark Feelings

Captive of emotion
— prisoner of deceit

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

He died
the day before
his birth
the curse had worked again

Generations
in the womb
their feticide
a last amen

The garden path
a stepford trap
whose fruit trees
bear the scorn

Enoch built
to hide the curse
the Mark of Cain
— damnation born

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Running off with tomorrow
divorcing today
The moment left orphaned
— all time astray

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Camels in the
brush
Memories in the
fire
Voices in the
wind
Panic in the
mire

Messages
conflict
Enemy
conspires
First shot
breaks the silence
Last shot
— lights the pyre

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Future horizons
tomorrow in embers

Sparks in the distance
— time set on fire

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Adding together
numbers and colors
red + 7 sku’d

Living in another
event horizon
yellow + 1 = Q

Orange + 31
sweetness defined
Euclidian paradox

Counting + feeling
the universe prime
— nth truth outside the box

(Villanova University: February, 2024)


Sands Of Time

Memories in the hourglass
  tumble and fall
  feelings receding
— meaning recalled  

(The New Room: February, 2024)

The timid
find courage
in the well
— of another’s fear

(Valley Forge Park: February, 2024)


Call Me Ishmael

Mediocre writing
spawns editing
The Great Works
— born unchanged

‘Thoughts of: Bob Dylan, Laura Nyro, John Lennon, Steve Winwood, Kris Kristofferson’
(February: 2024)

Poetry
secured in beauty …
carved high in a tree
Branches
spread and offer cover
of your history
Winter
comes and bares the promise
Spring will shade anew
Seasons
in the bark awaiting
— progeny to view

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Real poets don’t make lasting friends
they shun fraternity
Their truth like gritty sandpaper
abrasive when intoned  
The reader may be gratified
with what the words uncover
More likely though the pain involved
— will cut them to the bone

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

No matter how many times
you set the world on fire
Never forget
— where you store the matches

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

One More Day

Always amazing
how well this life
goes right on without us
New images tread
where shadows have fled
old memories in the dust
Nothing left behind
but words to remind
we chased the Tiger sure
Out of the jungle
into the light
—hoping for one day more

(The New Room: February, 2024)



A Finer Point

Simplify
and clear

Simplify
and clear

Not many
years left

— simplify and clear

(The County Line: February, 2024)



Trapline

Could — Would — Should
poetry’s triumvirate oxymoron

(The New Room: February, 2024)



Goodbye

Walking the wasteland
tracking the miles
rumpled old notebook
pain has compiled

Closer to yesterday
lost to today
Voices of promises
I shouldn’t have made

Trouble ahead
troubles behind
Providence follows
in only my mind

My pen almost empty
eyes nearly shut
One word to write only
— midnight has struck

(Villanova University: February, 2024)



Free Given

It matters least
that when I die
What strangers say
what ladies cry

It matters more
the ink run out
My words free given
— whose passion shouts

(Villanova University: February, 2024)

A place though small enough to write
— still big enough to dream

(State College Hotel: February, 2021)

New Keys

Will I do it justice
will I find the words

Unlocking tomorrow
— with phrases unheard

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Counting Inward

It’s never about
the number of words
Only the meaning
— and truth to be heard

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

The world God’s illusion
deceiving Himself
Birthing a metaphor
sleight of His hand
Time as the smokescreen
veiling the folly
Escape our salvation
—transcendent Divine

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Poet’s see beyond the cosmos
that’s why they’re revered
Poet’s leave the final time zone
past and future cleared
Poet’s bow to one volition
high above the clouds
Poet’s live in love’s reflection
— beauty to enshroud

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

One choice and circumstance
set us apart
Forever divergent
forever two hearts

One lasting reminder
of what can’t be fixed
The eggshells lay scattered
the pieces all nixed

In less than an instant
the future was charred  
Most scarlet of letters
forgiveness stays barred

And now to requestion
the maybe’s and why’s
The Stone of Excalibur
— an easier try

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Touching beauty
if just for an instant
if caught by its magic
— if only just once

(Moran Junction Wyoming: August, 2021)

Like a boy in the wild
raised by wolves
my poetry is sired
Tracking the scent
of each hunted word
traps set for me most dire
Uncaught or caged
by academia
my trail still honor bound
To wander freely
beyond the wind
— alone to stand my ground

(Ronald McDonald House: February, 2024)

I have no regard
for other poets
how could it be other

As they conscript
the words away
of which I’ve not discovered

A battle royal
zero sum
as phrases block and parry

The winner left
his voice reclaimed
— the loser most disparaged

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Signs that might be seen as omens
send me on my way
the daylight waning for today
and luck still ****** on display
flying close to danger’s coven

The wind blows fortune’s empty cast
as trackless dreams setout
dispelling hope and bringing doubt
without a name to even tout
caught within tomorrows fast

I see each warning clearly now
they speak much like a friend
whose words as tokens try to bend
rushing blindly toward the end
captured voices left to bow

Those signs that led me all point down
the road is changing fast
no clear distinction first from last
my future ****** to be my past
— the devils fiddle calling loud

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: February, 2024)

Were I to explain
what then would I say …
That the moon loves its axis
that each dog has its day
That the question unanswered
most answered indeed
That each start an enigma
and truth often bleeds
That the mind unexplored
without mention at all
That from season to season
time stumbles and falls
Against my better nature
I’ll place this one bet
The answer you hoped for
— you’re never to get

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

When night
is your mistress
all wishing is gone
Espoused to
the sun
till divorce came along
Hope
your one offspring
lying dead in repose
Philandering
blindness
— your tryst ill disposed

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

They come to me in phrases
in couplets newly born

Screaming from the highest places
fitted but unworn

They come to me in dreamsleep
the moon recycled new

Time released in words immortal
—scratched into the pew

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Toby was special
beyond any words
His love monumental
for country and Lord

He fought to the end
accepting his fate
A legacy giant
— our hearts to embrace

(Tony Keith’s Death: February 5, 2024)

Abandon your party
stand up for what’s right
the partisan madness
a liar’s delight

Honor the founders
revolt and derail
the graft and corruption
— both factions entail

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Blessing
the last poem
I’m ever to write
My body
reposing
Sophia’s delight
With eyes
dimming slowly
each breath growing thin
My spark
to an Angel
— as light to begin

(1st Book Of Prayers: February, 2024)

The Christians
and the Gnostics
can either sect be right
Would God omniscient
have created
such violence and blight
To **** and maim
**** and burn
for scripture misconstrued
Defies the spirit
and the mind
— disproving Him anew

(Villanova University: February, 2024)

The playing field level
your words versus mine
A race to forever
embedded in rhyme

The score has been tied
neither side giving ground
Both phrases and couplets
inscribed to astound

It’s late in the game
when a stanza takes off
Outpacing the others
no images lost

As darkness approaches
but one voice remains
Returned from the heavens
— posterity claimed

(The New Room: February, 2024)