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160 · Jun 2021
Verba Possunt Occidere
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2021
Speaking your mind
is dangerous

Speaking truth
—the deadliest thing of all

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)
160 · Dec 2023
Forging The Ask
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2023
The tension between
two disparate answers

Reinvents the question
—rebirthing the truth

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)
160 · Jul 2018
Only Man Knows
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2018
Without there being  
A God
I could never question  
His existence
Through the power of
The question
Divinity shines
Do birds question?
Do apes question?
Do flowers question?
Only man questions…
—and only man knows why

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)
160 · Aug 2018
New Voices
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2018
Nobody knew me,
  and that was my choice

The distance I kept
  protecting my voice

Though others had promised,
  their words fell in vain

My spirit untarnished
   whose breath I lay claim

My heart often suffered
  the pain I’d been caused

But a force pulled me inward,
  all hurt left on pause

This pathway my own,
  its direction so clear

Where alone I must travel
  —new voices to hear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2018)
160 · Nov 2022
Before The Flood
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2022
Death was invented
when life tired of the living
Eternity flexing
—the muscles of time

(Dreamsleep: November, 2022)
160 · Aug 2019
A Cowboy Never...
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2019
A Cowboy never says goodbye,
it’s not in his nature

A Cowboy never says goodbye,
the prairie his teacher

A Cowboy never says goodbye,
the wind his closest friend

A Cowboy never says goodbye
—his heart to only lend

(Hays City Kansas: August, 2019)
160 · Oct 2018
Searching In Vain
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2018
Carrying your heart
Inside my pocket
I traveled the world
Searching for love
When fate was unkind
You never complained
As I forgot to thank you
  —time after time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)
160 · Apr 2024
Spiritual Wasteland
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2024
The righteous
may struggle
the righteous may fall
But Hell
only exists
— in a place without love

(1st Book Of Prayers: April, 2024)
160 · May 2017
False Limits
Kurt Philip Behm May 2017
You have to cross the perimeter,
  for your border to expand

Stepping over the line,
  of yourself to demand

You have to follow that inner voice,
  calling out sacred and new

Rejecting false limits,
  on your way to the truth

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
160 · Nov 2016
I'm A Writer
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2016
I’m never lonely,
  — I’m a writer

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2014)
160 · Feb 2017
The Future To The Past
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2017
To tell if you’re a Poet,
  from the first line to your last

Do your words connect with feeling,
—the future to the past

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)
160 · Apr 22
Naked Ashes
Why are you
waiting
your house
is burning
Run while
you can
from the blaze
inside

What will
be left
in the morning
after
But naked
ashes
and tears
— uncried

(Dreamsleep: April, 2025)
160 · Dec 2023
'What A Wonderful World'
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2023
Louis Armstrong …
a class by himself
Not Dixie or Jazz
but much deeper felt

Growing better with age
his music enthralls
If fourteen or forty
his melodies call

Both Ella and Ray
are seated out front
As Satchmo delivers
when others exeunt

Timelessly treasured
he’d broken the mold
Of what sound can measure
—and a smile can hold

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)
159 · Mar 2017
Adieu
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2017
Deposit after deposit, memory is stored,
  interest compounding anew  

To transfer its balance of riches and gains,
—avarice must first bid adieu

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)
159 · May 2019
Unholy Marriage
Kurt Philip Behm May 2019
Lunacy…
  the unholy marriage
   —of laughter and fear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
159 · May 2019
The Last Hospice
Kurt Philip Behm May 2019
Once the words are written down
  —you'll never die alone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
159 · Mar 2022
Fear Not The Ides
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2022
Don’t make the time,
take the time
—life inside the difference

(Warsaw: March, 2022)
159 · Jan 2019
Mine To Know
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2019
I want to play not manage,
  write not teach

I want to drive—all controls in hand

I want to be like the rain across
  the mountains

Not the river that may turn to sand

I want to be that ******
  with a single bullet

And not part of the infantry’s trek

I want to be the first
  to cross the tundra

Without needing a map to check

I want the bugle to blow
  from my own lips

So others may advance and attack

I want roses free, to line
  my front walk

Replanted from the garden out back

I want feet that will always
  climb above

The timid and reluctant below

I want memories to follow me
  out of this world

To a place that is just mine to know

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
159 · Apr 2017
Disowned
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2017
Like leaves in the wind,
  words scatter about

From the woods and high grass,
  they call and they shout

“Come find us, come free us,
  we’re out here alone

“The Muse has deserted,
—and left us disowned”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)
159 · Oct 2021
Cartesian Lullaby
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2021
The Present
an undivided instant,
motion incarnate
senses believed

The Past left captive
to memory’s enigma,
the Future escaping
—wishes deceive

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)
159 · Jun 2018
The Present Instilled
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2018
Writing for tomorrow,
  today is enhanced

Writing for tomorrow,
  my mind and heart dance

Writing for tomorrow,
  my place is affirmed

Writing for tomorrow,
  my name is confirmed

Writing for tomorrow
  the future reeled in

Writing for tomorrow
  new moments begin

Writing for tomorrow
  old crucibles filled

Writing for tomorrow
—the present instilled

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)
159 · Feb 2021
Accompli'
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2021
The final poem that I write…
a comment on itself

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)
159 · Mar 2021
Cross Currents
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2021
If we could touch time
or taste a new dream
Awareness exploding,
beyond the extreme
To see every fragrance
or hear every wile
Our senses emboldened
—as memory smiles

(St. David’s Pennsylvania: March, 2021)
159 · Dec 2021
One Choice Remains
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2021
Often life more cruel than death,
pandemics to defy
Each breath of pain a new refrain,
whose fate we must comply

We live each choice right to the end,
all consequence dethroned
Until the reaper grants reprieve,
no mercy to be shown

This giant chorus sings aloud,
discordant and alone
The fear we face subservient to
the dread of the unknown

Those tracks we leave with blood to mark,
the distant by and by
One choice remains to end the game
—a final last goodbye

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
159 · Jul 2017
From Beginning To End
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2017
You want it to make sense
You want it to become clear
Your feigned self importance
No longer precious or dear
But the only one caring
And the one still in doubt
A mirrored reflection
Of what never comes out
The lunch breaks upon you
Again eating alone
Your steak is still raw
Chewed right to the bone
The banter around you
Seems innocent and yet
The shroud that surrounds you
Wards off and deflects
“You gain nothing by trying”
You gain nothing you say
As you begin crying
For those cast astray
That girl in the tall grass
That one in your arms
Went to be with another
When you bartered your charms
Her daughter who’s grown now
Some say looks like you
Could it be then you wonder
When the times were so few
You pay the cashier
And slowly walk out
This bill had been dear
More than you had allowed
With the bone in your pocket
You head back to your desk
As the cry of a mockingbird
Decries and behests
Your pen then runs dry
As you again start to write
On your left eye a sty
All vision in blight
Only then do you notice
Hanging pink and in front
And you know that your future
Now a dog that can’t hunt
So you walk to his office
And sit down in the chair
You look at him soulless
And try not to care
He explains “That he’s sorry”
That “The timing’s not right”
He says that you’re valued
But be gone by tonight
As you clean out your desk
A new feeling partakes
You look up to the ceiling
Knowing all that’s at stake
And that feeling is good
That feeling seems right
As the feeling then pushes
And the feeling alights
You decide now emboldened
To stop on the way home
At the house of that one
You left forever alone
You heard of divorce
And you wonder how bad
The damage it left her
Was it worse than you had
As you slow down your car
She stands in the yard
As you speed up your heart
She says ‘Directions’ how far
She does not recognize you
Have you changed all that much
She looks at you puzzled
As you long for her touch
And you drive away empty
As you drive away cold
And you drive away blackened
From your heart to your soul
But your path is now clear
Though you’ve no place to go
And those things that you’ve feared
Have now rightly been shown
As you walk in the kitchen
The door never had locked
Standing there and still smitten
The one you thought had forgot
“Was that you in the car earlier
Was that you, really you
I couldn’t believe it
Because I still love you, I do”
A reward wrapped in burlap
The priciest kind
Where if never rejected
You are never to find
So make just one promise
To then promise again
To be true to your feelings
—from beginning to end

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)
159 · Dec 2021
Nocturnal Mystery
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2021
The sun is down
and you’re standing on the platform all alone
with night
that friend who never questions…
But dawn is looming
with its predictable answer
never asking what went on before
as you stand there and wonder…
Does all confusion surrender to the darkness
or is there but one confusion
wherein your mind is set free
to rush through the empty spaces and moments…
Looking beyond what your eyes betray
  you sit down at the back of the platform
and open your journal
while closing your eyes…
New words to be told
no time to be old
one truth to behold
—and write

(Fairmount Park: December, 2015)
159 · Dec 2016
To Confess And Reveal
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2016
Words rushed through my head,
clearing cobwebs away

All letters on edge,
cutting doors as they played

From one room to the other,
they matched up and danced

And from basement to attic,
my mind was enhanced

Within reason, beyond memory,
they sharpened my feel

Until alone they then left me,
— to confess and reveal

(Train-Penn Station NYC: March, 2015)
159 · Dec 2021
A Pox On Dorian Gray
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2021
The artist may tarnish,
but his art remains clean
His intention stays ageless,
his wishes pristine

Though rust covers over
what’s harder to see
The base is still there
—and the spirit still free

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
159 · May 2022
Summer Rain
Kurt Philip Behm May 2022
Twilight beckons
a wavering moon
Chasing the sunset
from darkening skies

Clouded reminder
renewal has come
Birthing new shadows
in fresh summer rain

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)
159 · Apr 2017
Heaven Proclaimed
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2017

Be in awe of yourself,
  ever struck with delight

Gift wrapping your thoughts,
  in the goodness of life

Treasure the memories,
  letting go of the pain

Releasing the wonder,
—as Heaven proclaimed

(Highpoint North Carolina: April, 2017)
159 · Apr 2022
Overdue
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2022
Our mistakes are paid
in generations of denial
Old footsteps defaulting,
new judgments on file

The future in debt
to invoices past
tomorrow debentured
—arrears mounting fast

(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
159 · May 2024
Deeper Roots
Kurt Philip Behm May 2024
You can burn a book
but not its truth
Flames no match
for time’s reproof

Planted deep
below the lime
Its seeds will flower
— where light to shine

(West Campus: May 6, 2024)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2017
Whatchu gonna do when
  the trim is gone

Whatchu gonna do when
  the right turns wrong

Whatchu gonna do when
  the whistle blows

Whatchu gonna do when
  your feet say no

Whatchu gonna do when
  the man comes knockin

Whatchu gonna do when
  that devil’s laughin

Whatchu gonna do when
  your train don’t run

Whatchu gonna do when
  the words won’t come

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)
158 · Oct 2017
The Dark Abyss
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2017
He found what he was looking for,
   his shadow turned inside out

He moved beyond prescriptive cure,
  all questioning and doubt

He left the future-past behind,
  silhouette of all he’d missed

Impregnating the moment within himself
—to light the dark abyss

(Winston Salem, North Carolina: October, 2017)
158 · Mar 2017
My Wait Begins Again
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2017
I turn my collar up against the wind
and place my eyes along the skyline

Hoping in the darkness for some sign of you,
a colder truth I’ve never known

I pull my jacket tight across my chest
and watch the waves crash upon your shadow

Knowing the tide is like your receding heart,
washing my footsteps from the sand

The sun has now gone, the moon in flight,
and my hopes rise o’er the waves

My collar frozen and my soul on fire,
—as my wait begins again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)
158 · Jun 2024
Grand-Pere
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2024
A legacy for a father
waiting uninspired
Painted by the numbers
paternity required

Angel guardian my lost friend
orphanage exile
Free me on this darkest night
lead me through denial

Empty titled nominee
robbers roost to hide
Salutation waits unborn
seeded but unrhymed

Grand-Pere whose master’s voice
birthed my infant scrawl
Fill me once then fill me twice
— to sire and enthrall

(The New Room: June, 2024)
158 · Mar 2017
Their Power To Steal
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2017
Humanity bankrupted
  his checking account,
  but his love was not overdrawn

Each check that he wrote,
  each choice that he made,
  trading ingots for righting a wrong

With credit denied,
  and spirit affirmed,
  he continued to endorse what was real

Until bankers and lawyers
  destroyed with one stroke,
  his wishes—their power to steal

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)
158 · May 2017
Deafened To Hear
Kurt Philip Behm May 2017
The ending in sight,
—beginning so near

What’s loosened now tight,
—those deafened to hear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
158 · Nov 2021
No Mans Land
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2021
With little to gain
and much more to lose
the soldier reloads
no longer to choose

A fate most uncertain
all outcome in doubt
his soul placed in Limbo
—too late to back out

(The New Room:  November, 2021)
158 · Feb 2020
Verse My Heart
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2020
My prose becoming painful,
poetry yet a joy

Explaining has deterred me,
rhyme a favorite toy

Sentences locked and muted,
as couplets run and play

New paragraphs unwritten
—as verse my heart does pray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2020)
158 · Jun 2022
Nowhere To Hide
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2022
There are truths that follow
deep into the grave…
The one’s you disagreed with
—and the one’s you ignored

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)
158 · Nov 2016
To Create With Your Heart
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2016
Are you technically perfect,
  but spiritually weak

Are your words so well crafted,
  your soul cannot speak

Are your rhythms in cadence,
  and your endings in rhyme

Are you stuck in a format,
  that kills the sublime

Do your stanzas all end,
  with the beginning destroyed

Does the summation now grieve,
  with its parts overjoyed

Can you escape your own artistry,
  can your craft turn to art

Can you risk all rejection,
—to create with your heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)
158 · Sep 2016
In The Wine
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2016
I offered up my truest and best love  
  for you

Leaving wishes on the altar  
  for everyone else

A first and last supper combined  
  into one

Judas getting fat from a promise  
  denied

Starved within the memory of a feast  
  uneaten

My bread forever disappearing   
  in the wine

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)
158 · Dec 2016
Faith & Honor
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2016
All faith bestowed,
—all honor secured

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)
158 · Feb 2019
A Choice
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2019
To those who seek acquaintance,
  I can’t and won’t befriend
  
No time that isn’t mortgaged,
  no hearts will I defend

Each day begins and ends
  with gifted words upon the page

My blood lay rediscovered,
  new memories to age

My spirit lost within the Muse,
  my shadow running free

Her fond acceptance zero-sum,
  her voice my destiny

To those who say they know me,
  my verse they must have read

That person lost before the scribe,
  much better left for dead

And in the moment present,
  where all things take their place

I give myself back to a choice
  —no friendship can replace

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)
158 · Aug 2016
Deception
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2016
Yesterday and tomorrow
 The same impostor,
  —wearing different masks

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)
158 · Feb 2017
All Heaven For An Ear
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2017
Life’s journey through the darkest night,
  my final verse is clear

Temptation writes now for itself,
—all heaven for an ear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)
158 · Jun 2019
All Roads End
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
Laboring in obscurity...
  my pen a vagabond

Hitchhiking through my consciousness,
  my thumbprint worn and gone

Wishing past the hoping,
  spitting into the wind

All roads end in the desert
  —darkness my best friend

(Dreamsleep: June, 2019)
158 · Mar 2022
An Artists Prayer
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2022
To share in Creation
—is to become Divine

(Ist Book Of Prayers: February, 2017)
158 · Jul 2019
Adieu
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2019
Deposit after deposit, memory is stored,
interest compounding anew

To transfer its balance of riches and gains
—avarice must first bid adieu

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)
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