Writing
with my head
but
not my heart

My spirit
an orphan
alone
— and apart

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Left
with nothing
but heartache
— we run from the pain

Left
with nothing
but promises
— the words in refrain

Left
with nothing
but yesterday
— tomorrow a lie

Left
with nothing
but memories
— a final goodbye

(The New Room: November, 2024)

Time ...
the enigmatic
trap
we’re all caught within

(The New Room: November, 2024)

My slanguage
keeps the fire hot
my feet against the coals

My slanguage
what the critics hate
new venom to extol

My slanguage
whether read or sung
its message still the same

My slanguage
seeding my rebirth
— lost within the rain

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Painfully beautiful ...
oxymoronic
The quiet so loud
— all parameters die

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Writing
is but
an escape
for the soul

Freeing
our passions
making
— us whole

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

He stood by
my cradle
And followed
my hearse
Unlocking
two portals
Both blessing
— and curse

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Today
I decided
not to rhyme

The words
in volleys
poorly formed

Predicates
outcast
covers smashed

Their accents
bouncing
meanings lost

Today
I decided
not to rhyme

Appeasing
some
beyond the fence

Connections
broken
  phrases served

Playing tennis
without
— a net

(The New Room: November, 2024)

Reaching into the
public consciousness
the words were given free

Blowing fresh holes
through blind consensus
nothing there to see

Reaching into
the common anthem
selling out for fate

Lost in the current
of tomorrow’s maelstrom
— passing heaven’s gate

(The New Room: November, 2024)

We couldn’t survive
each to the other
We couldn’t let go
to live
We couldn’t give
without retaking
We couldn’t express
what we felt
We couldn’t stay quiet
when being together
We couldn’t come back
from the past
We couldn’t forgive
what time had rescinded
We couldn’t remember
— to forget

(Woodstock: Summer, 1969)

He wandered to the rim
looking over and down
Lost in a memory
his fear as a shroud
As voices from faces
that he never saw
Called out from the darkness
— with time overdrawn

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Innocence a foreigner
if beautiful or dark
No one who can lead the way
— has purity of heart

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Killing shared values
our lives on death row
Kinship aborted
— the world soon to blow

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

The pendulum swings wider
both right and then left
Those things that divide us
fomenting unrest
The wasteland between
what was once common ground
A minefield of mutual exclusion
— profound

(The New Room November, 2024)

That one final
  bullet
That one final
dagger
To use
on another
Or to use
— on ourselves

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

“If thou wouldst  
be my critic
Thou must
— wear my soul”

(Woodland Avenue Philadelphia: May, 1973)

Stealing from a thief
those phrases gone
Scales rebalance
words in song

Once recaptured
then released
The chorus joyful
— the world at peace

(The New Room: September, 2024)

Be home
when opportunity
knocks
Your door
left open
— lights aglow

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Trapped in a
ditch
on the highway
of life
Comings
were going
all motion
had gone

Till fates
saving whisper
in the ear
of tomorrow
Granted me
traction
in search
— of the dawn

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

You can’t destroy
a word
like vanquishing
an enemy

Its meaning cast
immortal
beyond
— victory or death

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

We could’ve
we would’ve
we should’ve
— but we didn’t

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Oh
to leave all chains
on top
of the mountain

Oh
to leave a world
setting
— everything free

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

I don’t know
what it is

I know
what it isn’t

Revealed
in the offing

An image
— takes form

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

He climbed atop
an oak on fire
Its sap transformed  
by flames concealed  

Each branch he passed
a year he traded
For what’s unseen
— by heat congealed

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

True innovation
emerges
from disruption
The sparks
of collision
— lighting the way

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

A prisoner
of sentience
escape
self-denial

Incarcerated
deep inside
with voices
dark and vile

A prisoner
of every thought
his mind
a burning feast

The moments that
protected him
before
protect him least

A prisoner
of déjà vu
where now
and then conspire

His name convicted
to the flames
all dreams
— within the fire

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Wolverine shadows
in the Michigan mist
Blood trail encampment
on yesterday’s tryst

Teeth at the ready
fortune can’t hide
Death for a tribute
— when vengeance abides

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

I’ve lived up
till now
with my thumb
in life’s eye
In reckless
abandon
I shucked
and I jived

No ******
was safe
no harlot
denied
The wages
of sin
my fortune
— allied

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Trust
a monopoly
the fickle
must earn

Rooted
in confidence
their faith
must confirm

Trust
is a progeny
whose offspring
endures

Embraced
by the concept
all parties
— adjure

(The New Room: October, 2024)

Friendship
trumps romance
strong feelings beset
without Cupid’s cloud
the road never wet

Friendship
trumps romance
when joy turns to dread
the magic enduring
— far beyond the bed

(The New Room: September, 2024)

Secrets ...
callous on your heart
stone around your neck
cellar of respite
weight upon your soul

Deception ...
bane upon your conscience
affront to voices hiding
sire of excuses
— truth behind the mask

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Emoted investment
dividends high
Buying then selling
as spirit contrives

Unlimited resource
consciousness fares
In debits and credits
— whose riches ensnare

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Living in the shadow
of a man now gone
Darkness my betrayal
— shades of future past

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Life’s secret
is in the balance
where happiness
— rests

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Philosophy ...
a preparation
for death

Groundwork
of ascension
— footnote of goodbye

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Death
the ultimate
release
Freedom’s
Déjà vu  

Questions
answers
join as one
Prescience
— shining through

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Outside the mind
they’re no universals
Conflation and trend
— humanity’s bane

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

“If you spend half your time
trying to change human nature
You’ll spend the other half
being disappointed”

If you spend half your time
waiting for someone to love
You’ll spend the other half
waiting to die

If you spend half your time
questioning the truth in the answers
You’ll spend the other half
missing the point

If you spend half your time
following the tracks of another
You’ll spend the other half
— wondering why


(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

No longer a teacher
a programmer ...
your gift to persuade
is gone

Referring to students
as charges and dolts
your power to control
is strong

To dictate
humanity
you must give up your own
controlled to then control

Blind to the moment
deaf to the past
defaming your nature
— killing your soul


(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Modernity
damns judgment
its prophets
seen as hostile

As the soulless
watch and covet
like a ******
envies man

What’s needed
is more judgment
and critique
to moral order

The essence
of humanity
what the soulless
try to ban

Irrational impulses
driving them
to lives of
dark infliction

Forcing them
to claim the world
in ‘natures’
— evil plan

(Reading C.S. Lewis: October, 2024)

Judging opinions
by their age
proscriptions
lie in wait

Consensus stained
with fear and guilt
folly
overstates

Knowledge of others
unknown to self
deception points
one way

Value weighed
in layers of dust
the truth held
—far at bay

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Nowhere
ain’t nowhere
when it’s where
— you belong

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Conscripting my dreams
attacking my doubts

Each wish is a soldier
whose loyalty shouts

Enlisting new feelings
with hope as my guide

A liege to the future
— where time will abide


(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Holding on tight
to each moment before

The test results come
forever unsure

Reprieved for a day
condition unchanged

“Your numbers are stable
— but cancer remains”


(Ronald McDonald House: Phila. Pa, October, 2024)

Someone
lost in a meandering season

Somebody
crying for all the wrong reasons

Somehow
married to a new in between

Someway
missing what others have seen

Someplace
the meaning stays hidden and waits

Sometimes
my wishes both early and late

Something
infused in the moments I’ve lost

Somewhere
abandoned — the ultimate cost


(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Angel of the streets
demon in the fortress
Darkness hides the garden
Grace a fallen wish

Voices in the alley
pleadings last communion
Wings that fight to open
— fire on the wind

(The New Room: October, 2024)

Being what he was
— he’d already been

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Worry
changes nothing
tomorrow unmoved
Forfeiting
the gift
— of a present unclaimed

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

So much of the time
we’re in transit
Mindlessly going
from place to place
Lost in a limbo
not here and not there
Ignoring the moments
— that set us all free

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Up your seconds
stretch every moment
Joy in the instant
— present sublime

(Harry’s Café: Rush Street, Chicago – Circa 1982)