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)

Neuroscience
takes a world class meal
grinds it into bits
and tries to convince us
— its taste has improved

(Villanova University: April, 2025)

There is no…
   African American history,
Native American history,
Irish American history,
Italian American history,
German American history,
Chinese American history,
Hispanic American history,
or White American history

There is only American History
—and Morgan Freeman got it right!

(Grantham New Hampshire-February, 2017)

I’ve not forgotten you,
but I can’t remember love
as moments went unpromised,
hours lost to wasted years
The future hiding one last spark,
memories yet to burn
that Fall we spent in lust’s inferno
—dancing in the flames


(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

Fighting Tuesday’s boredom,
he decided to play a game

And because he’d never done it,
he decided to test his fame

He mouthed the most nonsensical words,
with imagery askant

Then wrote them down from right to left,
a backward forward rant

To see if then his audience,
could make sense of this ruse

He published in the New York Times,
for readers there to muse

To his surprise they cheered and raved,
and called his name out loud

And said that T.S. Eliot,
from his gravesite would be proud

They found deep meaning in every word,
each rooted as a farce

And saw an abstract Moby ****,
within his dark discourse

With pen in hand he pushed away,
and leaned back in his chair

And scratched his head in wonderment
—at the myth his fame could bear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

Is there something unwanted
or even decried
that lives in the bottom
of all you’ve despised
to weep when you’re happy
the prefect of tears
confusing the moment
defying the years
its magic conscripting
new days into night
trapping what’s in you
embracing the fright
one saving question
the clock striking twelve
destiny tolling
—your answer indwells  

(Dreamsleep: January, 2022)

Filled up again
words pour out
Empty no longer
they whisper and shout

Life’s give and take
torrent to drought
The tide and the flow
—flooding the doubt

(Rosemont College: October, 2022)

Can you paint the picture
brushless

Can you sing the words
while mute

Can you dance the lone
fandango

Can you rage
—beyond your youth

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

The world collectively
lost its mind
When fires burned
our vision blind

From East to West
and North to South
Insanity
from mouth to mouth

The world has finally
woken up
Pundits quartered
their lies corrupt

Mobbed together
they screamed on high
But run for cover
—as truth decries

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

You can burn a book,
but never burn its truth
The flames sear the meaning,
tattooed at the root

Dousing this sacrilege,
my felony went untried
Escaping with the Muse in tow
—a fugitive decried

(Dreamsleep: January, 2022)

California loses its finest citizens
…acceptable losses

America loses its drug riddled youth
…acceptable losses

Texas loses its southern border
…acceptable losses

Our manufacturing base auctioned away
…acceptable losses

Native Peoples crying on reservations
…acceptable losses

The electorate abandoned and sold down the drain
…acceptable losses

Our finest and bravest fighting forever wars
…acceptable losses

Our schools now a swamp and our teachers inept
…acceptable losses

We talk to our smart phones and lose all connection
…acceptable losses

Our churches and synagogues bombed and attacked
…acceptable losses

Our freedom of speech now woke and maligned
…acceptable losses

The media profiting from rancor and division
…acceptable losses

Our allies mistrusting and looking askance
…acceptable losses

The dollar a symbol of greed and decay
…acceptable losses

The White House held captive by liars and fools
…acceptable losses

Our forefathers rage in eternities sleep
…acceptable losses

All shared common values rejected forever
…acceptable losses

A world without freedom leading the way
…our future in ashes

(The New Room: March, 2021)

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)

Leaky Poets
dripping Prose
Words secreted
left unchose

Wanton memories
twisted lies
Moment’s bartered
naked I’s

Love on steroids
feelings burn
Swelling heartache
pages turn

New tomorrow
old reprise
Armageddon
death’s surprise

One more time
into the breach
Last wave ceding
from the beach

Leaky Poets
undisclosed
One word answer
—no one knows

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

No more
a student
My soul
reclaimed
My thoughts
my own
The truth
—regained

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)

How deep do we travel
inside the divide
When crossing a line
we may not survive

How much of existence
lies waiting beyond
Those things without answers
— in moments becalmed

(Dreamsleep: July, 2024)

More pressing matters call…
time enough for the truth

(The New Room: August, 2021)

Tweedledee
and
Tweedledum

The fairytale of George W. Bush
and
Barack Obama

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

You can’t infringe on greatness
it always needs its space

To stand apart and stand alone
an island in its place

You can’t lip sync a legend
the lyrics never come

Whose price is paid in distance laid
—all glory zero sum

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

Alone while together,
unringing the bell

The darkness enlightened,
new silence to quell

Permissions refusal,
denial admits

The fusion of oneness
—a hit and a miss

(The New Room: March, 2021)

Leaving the place you’re going to,
my ultimate regret
a thorny road of promised dreams
I fled but can’t forget

Leaving the place that claims my heart,
still beating—buried deep
your pathway marked with blood I shed
whose wound this distance weeps

(The New Room: November, 2021)

Adventure,
pursuit of awe
—celebration of the unknown

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)

Is your pathway to Heaven now structured,
  with words that your verse seeks to pray

Is your stairway straight up or diverted,
  remittance and debts to repay

Is your meaning construed or verbatim,
  intention set free of this world

Is your love what was given or taken
—your heart ill at ease or unfurled

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Causality before truth
truth before causation
Universal in transference
inextricably defined

An atom of veracity
a little bit pregnant
Plato through Lewis
—reality entwined

(Rosemont College: October, 2022)

It’s always been different
and always the same
it’s all been anonymous
and all had a name
It’s had no beginning
and having no end
the truth lost in playing
this game of pretend
The magic in giving,
what’s been taken is lost
the price of the folly
exceeding its cost
And we search the horizon
never leaving the shore
the waves ever constant
now as then—and before

(The New Room: January, 2022)

Turn out those horses
that came back without me

Honor their service
that carried me on

Turn out those horses
that strut in my absence

Dusted in silver
—my honor is strong

(Las Vegas: January, 2022)

It’s not about the watch you wear,
but more about the time

The messenger lost when references cross
—all numbers out of rhyme

(Dreamsleep: November, 2021)

I’m running out of money,
but I’ve still got some time
and only just one question
…can you lend me a dime

My dollars spent on something
that quarters can’t divide
my nickels for what’s come and gone
…can you lend me a dime

Tomorrow comes as landlord,
whose lease you can’t cosign
my place reserved but not in ink
…can you lend me a dime

My tenancy is in arrears,
foreclosing on my mind
last chance to stay evictions sway
…can you lend me a dime

(Dreamsleep: January, 2022)

My heart stays in Wyoming
but Montana calls my name
My spurs and bits ‘a jingling’
as my soul goes north again
Cody up through Beartooth Pass
Cooke City just below
The Great Divide off to my left
the glaciers ringed with snow
I stop to mourn the western tribes
as dark clouds form above
The war chant of Tasunka-Witko
crying out with love
My spirit loose to roam the land
the great Oglala’s words I hear
Two kindred souls in one last dance
—as Wakan Tanka draws us near

(From ‘Searching For Crazy Horse’: February, 2017)

Tollgates on redemption road
calling out my name

Turnstiles of a fated past ...
exiting the blame

Looking back all fares are paid
new pathways to begin

Eyes now closing, heart at rest
— salvation free within

(My Son Trystan & I — April 16, 2024)

Where would we be
without the bomb
Was Einstein a savior
or devil aplomb
Our power the fire
all enemies dread
Till stealing its physics  
unmaking our bed

The world on the edge
of a looming abyss
Missiles entombing
a terrorist wish
Tomorrow unpromised
all time day to day
Eternity waiting
—forever to blame

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2022)

Regretting a dream
…Folies Bergere
Exhaling the magic
Marseille in despair
Seeking forgiveness
Vive Champs elysees
Mimes feigning answers
Montmartre chardonnay

(Café de La Paix: December, 1979)

The shortcut to a heart’s desire,
where roads and feelings cross

Destiny maps, direction on fire
—love’s toll the only cost

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

Are all notions of time a trap…
The perpetual present
The greatest one of all
Are all capsules of existence
Just graves we dig for ourselves
Each shovel full of denial
Burying us deep
  —within an empty reference

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)