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111 · Oct 2018
Myself, I Bring
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2018
Living in a rented room
  my thoughts became my own

Living in a rented room
  my borrowed soul was owned

Living in a rented room
  the fog began to lift

Living in a rented room
  my spirit set adrift

Living in a rented room
  the moment now the thing

Living in a rented room
  —to me, myself I bring

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2014)
111 · Jan 2019
Canyon Dancers
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2019
Deep in the canyon with the grace of your souls
  carrying your memory inside me

Visiting places where we spent time before
  seeing each one of your faces

Hearing your voices whispering inside
  reminding of what we knew then

Sealing a vision all time has denied
   old beginnings freed from the end

Deep in the canyon, the cliffs high above
   the echoes like condors they climb

The river runs wild as it carries our dream
  like a mother in birth of a child

The wind calls out once, then calls out again
  its question defying an answer

As our souls reunite in the vastness below
   —the story of five canyon dancers

(Havasupai Indian Village: January, 2019)
111 · Mar 2021
Statues In The Park
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2021
If we can’t tell stories
about our past
—the future stays untold

If judged by standards
out of time
—the fault beyond control

Our history always
both good and bad
—correction on the rise

What happened, happened,
as time rolls on
—and yesterday reminds

(Independence Square Philadelphia: March, 2021)
111 · Jul 2022
Letting You Go...
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2022
I spend my days
in celibacy unchosen
living the desperation
we share

Anguished in the knowledge
that needing you unbroken  
transcends the sentence
of this chair

I hear your words, I feel your touch
imprisoned by our love
and wish to free you from this pain
to meet again above

My memory holds each tryst endeared
your beauty most sublime
to relive as I stay in place
—virility confined  


(The New Room: July, 2022)
111 · Apr 2019
Heaven's Atelier
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2019
All of your efforts…
  an homage to false reasoning

Excuses misleading,
  art's truth to disown

Heaven's Atelier
  beyond comprehension

Its masterpiece living
  —beyond canvas or stone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)
111 · Jul 2017
Hear Then Speak
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2017
Hear,
Before speaking the words
Unwritten

Speak,
After writing the words
Unheard

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)
111 · Feb 2021
To Merlin
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2021
Freeing the myth,
begotten to dream

Ramparts to crumble
—Sorcerer’s scheme

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: February, 2021)
111 · Feb 2019
America
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2019
The power of dissent
  —a true measure of our freedom

(Flagstaff Arizona: February, 2019)
He died
in a whisper
alone
in its presence

The call of death
weaker
than what he’d
been told

Wading into its
shallows
each step
took him deeper

Reluctance
and acceptance
both swimming
in turn

Each voice
every motion
he passed
toward the bottom

The pressure of
choosing
now
drifting away

In denial
and waiting
the past
floating above him

But the end
of its
shouting
— had finally begun

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)
111 · Apr 2017
No Candy This Year
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2017
The eggs had been colored,
  all scattered about

The baskets were hidden,
  the children now shout…

“Was he here mom, was he here?”
  they yell from upstairs

“Come down and find out,”
   she says—nary a care

Their little feet rush down,
   taking two steps at once

Wide eyes dart all over,
   playing their hunch

Living and dining rooms
  they tear with a fever

No corner is safe,
  from the incursion of either

“I found it, I found it,"
   the bigger one said

The smaller one saddened,
  their heart filled with dread

“The Bunny forgot,
  there's no candy this year”

From across the big room,
   the first start of a tear

“The Bunny never forgets,”
   their mother cried out

"You have to look harder,
   both inside and out”

And as the front door was opened,
  the little one chimed...

“Mom, he didn’t forget,
—it was here all the time”


(To My Grandchildren: Easter 2017)
111 · Sep 2023
Dark Skies
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2023
In times of war
law remains silent
All doves in flight
—before the storm

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)
111 · Nov 2023
One Shot
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2023
In spite of all your riches
you eschew what prophets do
Basilicas you build to self
with time but empty pews

Wealth deadly suicidal
when wielded as a gun
Whose target sits between your eyes
with one shot zero-sum

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)
111 · Oct 2021
Orphaning Winds
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2021
Changing with each season,
voices come and go
what’s lost undreamed, ourselves demeaned,
in search of the unknown

Naked and left wanting,
fortune sires myth
impregnating its mystery
—with tales of the abyss


(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)
111 · Mar 27
Something For Kathryn
Your words
they fall silent
but your life
is a poem

Each motion
and gesture
by Heaven
are known

You rhyme
every smile
your eyes
metered guides

To love
written couplets
of joy
— from inside

(To Kathryn: March, 2025)
111 · Feb 2019
Death Be Not Imminent
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2019
The dreams of a soldier…
   dead bodies impound

A warrior’s spirit
  his enemy found

The battle once over
   a new war to find

Though death be not imminent
   —all sleep to remind

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2015)
111 · Jan 2023
Circling The Square
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2023
Can nothing extend
beyond something…

Can never be
possibly where…

Can dreamers awaken
the insomniacs sleep…

Can no place
ever be there…

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)
111 · Mar 2018
Never To Rest
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2018
I’m a Poet….
  don’t try to trap me with words
  or with logic you don’t understand

With your barrister’s training
  you’re out of your league
  this arena beyond your command

In some ways
  I’ve already said it all
  but never in the form you approve

Or with comforting platitudes
  lining your shell
  as pontification behooves

The slick easy answers
  unfit for a Sage
  but the pundit and liars attest

My message as spoken
  comes at great cost
    —your conscience never to rest

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2018)
111 · Nov 2024
Never Letting Go
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 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)
111 · Oct 2021
Final Draft
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2021
My poetry selfish,
a teacher I’m not,
my message once for saying

Instruction a tool
long missing and gone,
imagery not relaying

The ivory tower
a dungeon to me
where freedom goes to die

The wind in the willows,
a hawk on the wing
—my verse to course and fly

(The New Room: October, 2021)
111 · May 2019
Deja Vu
Kurt Philip Behm May 2019
The Future…
   is but the past unloved

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
110 · Dec 2016
Eternity's Glow
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2016
Salvation rises,
  only from the depths
  of the unsure

Its light ablaze,
  exposing fear
  while pronouncing the cure

Redemption hovers,
  over death and its
  pestilence below

Casting all there reborn,
  in the warmth  
  of eternity’s glow

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)
110 · Apr 2019
All We Can Say
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2019
If the memories in the present
  are of the past

And the aspirations of the present
  to the future are cast

Then memories aspire
  for only today

The only time extant
   —and all we can say

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)
110 · Sep 2022
Eternity's Child
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2022
Born without reference
freedom prevails

The moment supreme
comparison failed

Living without reference
judgment defiled

Existing intrinsic
—eternity’s child

(Ronald McDonald House: August, 2022)
110 · Feb 2020
Opening Night
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2020
Auditioning for life,
a one-act play

Rehearsing my part,
to leave or to stay

The audience waiting,
the stage has been set

Opening night,
my birth or my death

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2020)
110 · Jun 2021
Annuntiatio
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2021
I stumbled through each morning,
it was all about today
Dissolute and scorning,
of all that passed away
Wandering and faint of heart,
old promises unsworn
Living once then living twice
—the moment was reborn

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)
110 · Jun 2019
One Well
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
There are Poets
for the stage

And Poets
for the page

The difference
often subtle

In your eye,
and in your ear

There are Poets
for the stage

And Poets
for the page

One well for them
to draw from

Two voices
—speaking clear


(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
'Thank You, Neal Hall'
110 · Jun 2024
Lost Between
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2024
The backside
of tomorrow
The frontside
of today
Every look
retelling
Of what the past
betrays

Caught within
the doldrums
All time fades
in the mist
Until that day
that ends itself
And nothing more
— exists

(Dreamsleep: June, 2024)
110 · Aug 2019
Beyond
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2019
Within the depths of all I fear,
a voice holds me at bay

And clears a path, my soul to roam,
to stumble on its way

The darkness lures, a light unshone,
new words to keep me strong

As legend steals what fact denies
—beyond all right or wrong

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)
110 · Mar 2021
Tracking Upwind
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2021
A hunter
not skinner  
with quarry
so vast
Whose path
through the forest
is first
—never last

(Garrett Hill Pennsylvania: January, 2021)
110 · Dec 2021
The Forest & The Trees
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2021
Don’t let the poetry
weaken the poem

The structure a servant
—for what’s to be known

(The New Room: December, 2021)
110 · Feb 2018
La Verdad
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2018
Unlike the curse
  placed on most ideologues

The Truth
—never contradicts itself

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)
110 · Dec 2018
Tomorrow Ill Promised
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2018
Bubblewrapped children
  disparate hope

Spirits in limbo
  shortest of ropes

Control and protection
  their meaning belies

Tomorrow ill promised
—eternity cries

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2018)
110 · Feb 12
Ode To Bobby D'
The minute I say
what it means to me
It will never mean
something different to you

Words are like highways
they begin and they end
You can get on and get off
where you choose

If I tell you the mile marker
I travel the most
You may miss one
I still haven’t seen

If I break it apart
and then spell it all out
There’s no mileage left
— to wander and dream

(Dreamsleep: February, 2025)
110 · Jul 2017
Heaven To Bless
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2017
Marry your will
  unto your heart

The heavens to bless
—and to guide
110 · Apr 2022
Laura's Crown
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2022
Lusting after everything,
my words in search of what that brings
I ride through time upon the wind
—to chase the ****** queen

(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
110 · Nov 2024
Escape Clause
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2024
Writing
is but
an escape
for the soul

Freeing
our passions
making
— us whole

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)
110 · Apr 2019
An Ever Changing Tide
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2019
Stretching and pulling,
  the Universe goes on

Cosmology’s wonderment,
  each day a new dawn

The Spacetime Continuum,
  today’s Top 40 hit

Tomorrow inherent,
  unless we’ve been misled

The deeper the probing,
  the ‘Bigger the Bang’

What Einstein, Godel,
  and Penrose began

The good news for knowledge
  as we err and refute

Like a tide ever changing
  —to immerse in its truth

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)
110 · Sep 2022
Breaking Through
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2022
If Sartre was right
and
“Hell Is—Other People”
then
Isolation holds the key
that
opens perception’s door

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)
110 · Jan 2019
April Bleeding
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2019
March
  brought me closer
  to the spoken word

March
  created thunder
  never before heard

March
  left forever its stamp
  and imprint

March
  so predacious
  April bleeding
     —in red ink

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
110 · Oct 2016
No, No—Yes
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2016
No Conflict ------------------ No Contest
                          Nirvana

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)
110 · Jul 2017
Night Guardian
Kurt Philip Behm Jul 2017
A steward of memory
  —the caretaker of dreams

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2014)
110 · Mar 4
The Scarlet Cleaver
The butcher
in a trance
this death
then many more
The cleaver
paused in motion
destruction
to the fore

The blood
is pooling downward
in images
besmeared
Its stain
a violent crimson
tattooing life
— with fear

(Dreamsleep: March, 2025)
109 · Apr 2019
Tears Of Pain
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2019
Those most desperate among us,
  must learn to cry alone

Themselves regained through tears of pain
  —to mark their pathway home

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2019)
109 · Feb 2023
"And Yet It Moves"
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2023
Reason
without evidence
Truth
without form

Burning
the ladder
Immune
from the scorn

Nuance
to sleepwalk
As reality
dreams

Proof
in the eye
Galileo
redeemed

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)
109 · Oct 2021
In Debt To Rene
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2021
Denying the soul…
all words are in vain
a verbal inherence
—spirit proclaims

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)
109 · Sep 2019
The Reckoning
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2019
The vision intrudes,
stealing ink from my pen

A thief in the night,
leaving words that portend

A warning’s been given,
its mantle thrown down

But truth will write over
—what darkness avows

(Villanova Pennsylvania:  April, 2017)
109 · Feb 26
Footnotes
We all become
stories
at the end
of the day

The true
and the false
the black
and the grey

The plot lines
will vary
the ends
in due course

As history
remembers
with joy
— and remorse

(Dreamsleep: February, 2025)
109 · Apr 2023
Deep Set
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2023
Experience is fleeting
—memories are forever

(Dreamsleep: April, 2023)
109 · Nov 2018
The Moment Sustained
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2018
Each verbal success
  leads to higher new ground

Where the words beck and call
  with a heavenly sound

The trail to my future
   fades into my past

As the gift they inspire
  —my present to last

(Grantham New Hampshire: March, 2015)
109 · Jun 2019
I Hate
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
I hate the ‘Body
Politic’

Whose wave blasphemes
and grows

I battle to swim against
its tide

Or be abandoned in its
flow

I hate the way it stunts
my voice

‘Old Dominions’ chosen
side

I hate the fact—it’s hate
I feel

With the truth a captive
lie

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)
Inspired By My Friend & Poet Neal Hall
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