In his
indecision
he changed
again
Only to
become more
of what he had
— never been

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Justification
of illusion
the surface
unsure

Each step
poorly taken
new death
— to allure

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Wandering off
drifting hither and yon
Stumbling without purpose
through maddening throngs
Askant in reflection
devoid of all thought
The badlands awaiting
— eternity fraught

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

When I got to Heaven
the gates were listing
a ‘going out of business’
sale

The Angels on clearance
Saints on deep markdown
Grace and the Cherubs
e-tailed

When I got to Heaven
the Devil in line
waiting to go in
and buy

His credit card ready
Cerberus in tow
the ****** and the wicked
— behind

(The New Room: January, 2025)

Eavesdropping
the liars
where poison is stirred
Their message
rings toxic
the future interred
Foreboding
forsaking
all hope is unstrung
While deaf
to the mantra
— where truth waits unsung  


(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Hiding behind
each veil of deception
a reckoning awaits

Looming above
the sea of destruction
a fugitive of fate

Grasping for breath
on the edge of tomorrow
the future air most thin

Plaguing the weak
adrift in their sorrow
— the DNA of sin

(The New Room: January, 2025)

Today
is in context
Tomorrow
is not

The moment
held captive
The future
uncaught

To be
unbegotten
No birth
and no death

The present
resplendent
No last
— dying breath

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Conspicuous
by his absence
Entrenched  
in his abeyance
Condemned
in his reluctance
All feelings
askant

Forgiveness
but a carrot
From a garden
long estranged
Those closest
to his exit point
Bereft
— and unclaimed

(Villanova University: January, 2025)

When you have money
the world stops to listen
The content no matter
gratuity bound

The dollars indulgent
as charlatans glisten
Self-interest the mantra
— with greed to compound

(Septa R5 Train: January, 2025)

Loving you
with all my heart
the distance creeping in

With each tryst
creating space
your vision growing thin

The more I try
to hold you close
the more you slip away

Until I’m left
alone again
— in passion’s yesterday

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Crossing over
into the realm
of non-description
reference and paradigm
sleep alone

Borders falling inward
upon themselves
leaving only what
the mind forgoes
—and the soul forbids

(The New Room: 1-15-2025)

A second first date
a telltale sign  
that she’s the hill
my heart to climb

A third first date
the past a blur
my thoughts held captive
entrapped in her

A fourth first date
all time had stopped
her eyes enchanting
the mountain topped

A fifth first date
my world anew
her saving grace
— the words “I Do”

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

On a path
of mindless
wander

To hope
is an unwoven
thread

In a life
of restless
longing

Tomorrow
in joy
— or in dread

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Between
Charlie’s
Drums
Keith’s
Guitar
And ****’s
Voice
The story of
Rock & Roll
Is told
Immortalized
— and reborn

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Twenty-five years
of saying the Rosary

Twenty-five years
a promise to keep

A last dying wish
her beads in my hand

Not one day I’ve missed
— or one restless sleep

(The 1st Book Of Prayers: January, 2025)

If not a Poet
what would I be
A soldier, a sailor
a fading marquee

If not a Poet
whose soul would I claim
a saint’s or a sinners
to praise or defame

If not a Poet
which path would I choose
the known or untraveled
which one did Frost use

If not a Poet
what hills would I climb
what bells could I ring
— in place of the rhyme

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Once up on
a pedestal
There’s nowhere to go
— but down

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

If the past is not alive in you
the future will be dead
Sparrows turn to flee the dawn
with yesterday unfed

Once memory breaks the golden chain
foundations lay unpoured
And silence breeds the only sound
— to play tomorrow’s chord

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Between truth
and falsity
In the cold
empty darkness
— lies a poem

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Battling each
paradigm
I wandered alone
Straight into
the maelstrom
of thundering tomes

My nose
pointed North
spitting into the wind
Decision once made
a line crossed
from within

Reciting
a dogma
both precious and torn
The words fill my spirit
once lost
and forlorn

Chasing a promise
that’s eluded
so long
An Angel appears
to whose will
— I belong

(The New Room: January, 2025)

What would you pay
to erase a memory

What would you buy
to blot out the stain

What would you give
to not be forsaken

What would you take
to lessen the pain

What would you know
if the words came unstrung

What would you hear
if the silence prolonged

What would it be
if time was delinquent

What would it mean
— if the meaning was gone  

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

Oh to be
remembered
Not to be
forgot
Excuses lost
in borrowed time
Reasons
— dearly bought

(Dreamsleep: January, 2025)

On the road
we are
beyond
all consequence
Troubadours
of destiny
children
— of an ageless song

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Allergic
to the truth
Immune
to virtues glow
One infection
plagues my soul
Whose cure
— my sin forgoes

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Eating everything
on the menu
Dylan asked for more

His hunger
reestablished
leftovers on the floor

A bite into
the future
yesterday a *****

A meal once paid
forever staid
— new rawness to procure


(The New Room: December, 2024)

Ambition
is the best pursuit
the road to glory
calls

Ambition
is the worst pursuit
that leads to
your downfall

Ambition
tames the wildest beast
its jungle free
of thorns

Ambition
breeds the deepest hate
your future paved
— with scorn

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

He learned
to race
before
he walked
The world
too slow
his freedom
caught
To fans
who watched
and those
who loved
His spirit
soars
at speed
— above

(The New Room: December, 2024)

It lives
in the margins
betwixt and between

Visible
yet fleeting
a light once unseen

When reaching
to touch
its magic forestalls

Lost to that
moment
— posterity calls

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

You can only hope
that death provides
what’s sorely lacking
what life denies

You can only hope
that death will bring
the end of Winter
— unending Spring

(The New Room: December, 2024)

There are truths in disguise
but only one truth

Between Heaven and Hell
— time hides the difference

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

The story of revolution
the glory of Che
The fury of wander
a doctor’s foray

Silver spoon of his birth
the high noon of choice
A tune peasants cling to
that force in his voice

Daring insurrection
then falling from grace
Each stalling acceptance
a rebel’s embrace

His legend in khaki
a friend to the weak
Unbending in spirit
— both joyous and bleak

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Winning the
war

Winning the
peace

Divided by
victory

Joined in
— defeat

(The New Room: December, 2024)

Did you go
to the gym
the Poet asked

Or just write
weakened
the verse untasked

The vowels and
consonants
stay unflexed

With words
atrophic
— their muscles vexed

(The New Room: December, 2024)

Your voice
becomes a shadow
breathless
aft the fall

Whose words
deform in Satan’s grace
speechless
— yet they call

(Dreamsleep: 12-19-2024)

I stray
on purpose
my will
redeemed

When left
of center
to swim
upstream

Against
the grain
my future
hides

On roads
less traveled
past times
— divide

(The New Room: December, 2024)

The ending
hard
The ending
mean
Your future
soiled
But memory
clean

Your back bent
over
Your steps
misplaced
Your speech
a murmur
But one
last ace ...

A Robin
sits
Upon your
arm
And sings
of times
Forgotten
charm

And takes
your last
Begotten
breath
Upon its
wings
To fates
— regret

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Fearing
that day
when the
music stops
My steps
remeasure
my soul
takes stock

Rueing
that moment
when time
is gone
My tea
resweetens
all words
— in song

(The New Room: December, 2024)

From darkness rose
the light of time
Reborn each day
from Eastern climes

In shadows wake
our future’s swim
Cross lakes of fire
toward Adam’s hymn

Repeat, repeat
new endings start
Redemption flames
with nature’s spark

As echoes answer
in voices new
****** mornings
— bid night adieu

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

I swore
over and over
and
over and over
Forever
to love her
no matter
the whim

But time
after time
as each siren
would call  
I rambled
and left her
my nose
— in the wind

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Good taste
— wears no brand

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Necessary
but not
sufficient
Stated
but
unheard
Always wrong
but never
in doubt
Sworn
but forever
— *****

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Etching my name immortal
the words when left my pen
Take on a new perspective
beyond both me and them

Etching all time eternal
the future is renamed
Calling forth beyond true north
— my destiny reclaimed

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Tending anger’s
raging garden
seeds lie
burnt and dire

Each fiery breath
a vine ensnares
with thorns
of ****** ire

Tending anger’s
furrowed hate
with vehement
acclaim

A tirade lost
within the rows
of dark
— unending pain

(The New Room: December, 2024)

Hiding from
the day
with night
growing short
The light
to expose
what darkness
— aborts

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

When you subsidize
my excess
You underwrite
my greed
Each payment made
my hunger craves
And gluttoned passion
— needs

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Competition ...
what keeps us alive
Sharpening our edges
fueling our drive

Setting new benchmarks
pushing the bar
Forever defining
— just who we are

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Are you the CEO
of your passion
the chief of your desires

Are you the captain
of your intention
the master of what inspires

Are you the owner
of your discovery
the clearing in the fog

Are you the light
of your reflection
— a servant before God

(The New Room: December, 2024)

As hedonists dally
to never explain
The greatest pleasure
— the absence of pain

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Like squeezing and gripping
a handful of sand
Your love dropped through
the crevices unrhymed

Defining our feelings
with each orphaned word
Lost in the random
—abandon of time

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Kneeling
in a confessional
of words
forgiveness wouldn’t come
Absolution
undefined
where beats
— the silent drum

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)