The chosen
tone deaf
to their fortune

Musicians
their heads
in the sand

The roadies
eat pizza
still frozen

While Angels
play bass
in the band

Indulgence
the pick
on their fretboard

Entranced
by the lure
of the ****

Benighted
the riffs
play without them

Not going
or coming
— just gone

(The New Room: March, 2024)

Wandering alone
atop Mount Nittany
his claws long retracted
his teeth filed down

The last of his breed
once reigning so proudly
his lair far distant
no food to be found

Strange noises he hears
far off to the West
in the canyon of beavers
a struggle beset

He knows that this Winter
most likely his last
the future reclaiming
—a glorious past

(Lemont Pennsylvania: November, 2023)

Saying goodbye,
never saying hello

All doors locked behind me
—their keys made of stone

(Indianapolis Indiana: July, 2019)

With all the talk that so divides
—one bomb unites us all

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021)

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

(State College Hotel: February, 2021)

Clothed in fraud,
his disguise supreme

Frightening listeners,
confusion schemed

His world inside,
a caldera waits

Armageddon trembling
—the hour late

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Violence deceives  
in the absence of love
masking a template
that fits like a glove

Destruction and madness
call from within
where lies have embedded
in footnotes to sin

Violence festers
in spirit deformed
to strike ever constant
those feelings unborn

Its petroglyph’s holler
from caves deep inside
marking the secrets
—we most try to hide

(Dreamsleep: June, 2023)

If life is
purposed
rich and wide
verse is your reward

A written
portrait
left behind
— called to meet the Lord

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

Are you the movie or the commercial,
the story or its cost

The question quite subversive
—in its drama most are lost

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

The distant echo
of my lost awareness
rings the canyon walls

No clear way out
one final shout
—benighted to recall

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

Justice has no borders
liberty no walls
Freedom lives beyond the realm
of tyrants big and small

Blood once spilled in battle
generations to enthrall
Sealing hope in memories deep
—to those who heed the call

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

The DNA of Illusion
— is Time

(Thank You, Leon: 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)

In the beginning there were cold rocks with
painted animals that chose which way you’d run
toward or away from tomorrow’s undoing
in search of what the present can’t find
looking into the future with blind refusal
at the corner of time and space
taking back what forgiveness wouldn’t share
heating each rock until the images dance
—warming the night of a thousand dreams
—warming the night of a thousand dreams

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Where fixes the point of no return,
fixes the point assured

Where fixes the point of no return
—it’s there you’ll find thy Lord

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

The night brings solace,
its darkness friend

Forever now
—forever then

(The New Room: January, 2021)

The reality of who we were
destroyed what we were
—as the thresher kills the rose

(Dreamsleep: July, 2019)

Identity
is derivative
of distance
endowed

Space
the Grand Sultan,
its winds
to uncloud


(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

The bow of
God’s wrath
is restrung in
the dark
To target
injustice
and hate
as its mark
Each arrow
His judgment
of life
in the main
And striking
dead center
He frees us
— again

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

Desperation to breed contempt
the moment shattered
time illy spent

Choices bartered and freedom gone
the reaper chanting
old righteous wrongs

Panic stricken the nights repeat
the days long orphaned
abandoned sheep

One promise lingers in chastened air
the font of Angels
— baptism’s prayer

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)

Every time you make a new friend,
I make a new enemy

Every time you swear that you won’t,
my world falls apart

Every time you say it’s the last,
my grief is reborn

Every time I look in your eyes
—the future is lost

(Dreamsleep: July, 2021)

Another truth, another lie
—another day that ends in why

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)

As you age and days get shorter,
do you reach out for the source

Whether family, friends, or lover,
is the pull a constant force

Is the attraction of returning,
going home to shed your sins

The final stage in your progression
—to refresh and rebegin

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

The immediacy of time,
its reference untold

The beginning repeating,
not young—and not old

(The New Room: January, 2021)

Prose and its narrative
the lazy alternative
Words most abundant
meaning defined

Declarative function
it reads codependent
As poets but smile
— with language refined

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2024)

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

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

Killer of dreams
—the moment says goodbye

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: July, 2009)

The invasion upon us
attacked by a neighbor
no village is safe
their scourge overruns

The enemy dressed
as civilian turistas
our border wide open
and freely they come

No shots have been fired
or prisoners taken
the keys to our arsenal
willingly loaned

Our schools now infested
with quotas bespoken  
surrounded and cornered
—the fault but our own

(McAllen Texas: September, 2022)

The difference between
poetry and prose
Whose words live together
under your nose
With prose you can finish
last page period end
But poetry boundless
— to forever extend

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Staring into
a crystal gaze
The throng is burning
purple haze

Music blaring
notes on fire
Crescendo glaring
demon ire

Staring into
a crystal gaze
The faces foreign
voices bade

In unison
their screams demand
Encored tribute
— to save the band

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Caught within a dying art form
a lyricist passed by
(saying)
“Music is my lord and master
it makes the phrases fly”

Writing lines of words unwedded
the ink once dry is set
Time and memory freed in song
—the poet to forget

(Villanova University: June, 2023)

The bark of eternity,
an armoring sure

An oak or a maple,
their majesty pure

Below their dark cover,
time circles in rings

Where destiny spirals
—as residents sing

(Martha Brown’s Woods: March, 2021)

Thoughts inflame as feelings stir,
words simmering yet to boil
Unspoken sparks drift through the night,
a pyre still to fan

As heat restores the human soul,
all prodigals return
With hope to melt the frozen dawn,
and free the Poet's hand

Delphian in its natural form,
the smoke a treacherous friend
Ink rekindles—lies cremate,
the mind, its woods now bare

The verses stack and dry of doubt,
their ignition up to you
As dark they wait for your next breath
—to light the spoken air

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2016)

Memory
without language
Joy
without pain
Sight
without prescience
Deed
without claim
Truth
without compromise
Faith
without prayer
Grace
without blessing
Love
— never shared

(The New Room: May, 2024)