The land of the free,
the home of the brave

Inclusive together
—America saved

(Valley Forge: February, 2021)

External conflict
(versus)
self-disaffection

The first a misdemeanor
(the second)
a higher crime

Inarticulate
powerful yearnings
trapped in between

Inarticulate
powerful yearnings
—of that forever lost

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

A thousand answers
one last question
— why

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

Complex thoughts
need simple words
The meaning foremost
verse to show

The mind expands
new seeds put down
Cross pollinated
left to grow

The soil fertile
just sun and rain
As fields once fallow
rise anew

The world awaits
each problem solved
In cyphers brief
— with letters few

(Rosemont College: January, 2024)

A vessel
of transference
my doors
never close
All windows
stay open
where light
can impose
A constant
refilling
with verse
to the brim
Whose message
of hope
forever
— within

(Dreamsleep: April, 2025)

Locked behind the doors of my heart,
good wishes sleep unsaid
Whose key I’ve lost and yet to find
…this lonely empty bed
With dreams undreamt and vacant nights,
the hours linger on
All hopes and tidings unfulfilled
—and feelings all but gone

(Warsaw: March, 2022)

Smaller in the rearview mirror
the past retreats from view
Perspective changing rearranging
the old supplanted new

Fading in a dying focus
dust beyond the wind
Blowing wild beyond our memory
—fates forgotten hymn

(Dreamsleep: December, 2022)

The pinnacle of abuse
is preying on your own
Jackal, politician,
mercenary, or priest
Their cloak of deception
hiding unspoken lies
Approaching your doorstep
—in the guise of a friend

(The New Room: January, 2021)

Do you draw on the facts
or color with bias
Blurring the truth
—your head in the sand

(Dreamsleep: August, 2021)

The smallest possible infinity
divorced from first and last
A black hole caught inside itself
—time lost in future’s past

(Villanova University: June, 2023)

The road to power
is mined with uncertainty
each step a commitment
—to live or to die

(Dreamsleep: March, 2022)

America’s decline…
war chanted whines
A nation in half
quicksand in our path

Altruism dead
alone in our beds
No one left to blame
—married to our shame

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)

Is time distorted
or our memory of time

A finite connection
—dimension sublime

(Driggs Idaho: September, 2021)

“Nip and tuck” her surgeon says,
crow’s feet on the run

Tighter skin on feathered whims,
botox zero-sum

An ageless wonder creaks inside,
bones preserve the tale

And when she smiles her lips on fire
—wanton to regale

(The New Room: December, 2021)

Straddling the candle,
too close to the flame

A fiery benediction
—a smoldering refrain

(Grantham New Hampshire: February, 2017)

Spiritual draftsmen,
builders of walls
Demanding blind homage,
tithes of false hope

Fortressing darkness,
ministering fear
Evangelist’s rumbling
—prophets who quake

(Rosemont College: July, 2021)

A pat on the back,
smoke up the rear

Shake with both hands
—perdition is near

(Dreamsleep: August, 2019)

Your form is strong,
but your content is weak

Desire flowing,
experience meek

Trying to fake it
with meter and rhyme

Words never ripen
—green apples in time

(Dream Sleep: March, 2021)

Earbuds in and phone in hand,
millennial’s converse

Language distant, eyes unshared,
their lives on hold—obverse

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

The ***** of tomorrow’s rage
burning undelivered
waiting for perdition's womb
vengeance baptized—christened tears

The seed that carries darkness on
planted in the shadows
hiding what we most despise
hatred pregnant—birthing fear

(Dreamsleep: June, 2023)

If your courage lasted for
just an instant
Overriding your fear,
all excuses behind
If one choice you made
could then reimagine
A world once illusioned
—stepping out of your dreams

(The New Room: February, 2021)

Etta was predicting
Stormy Weather
As Ray freed his
Seven Spanish Angels
Roy asked are you still
Running Scared
But Ella was smiling and
Watching Over Me
Peggy gave me that look asking
Is That All There Is
But Kris stepped in to
Help Me Make It Through The Night
***** reminding us all
How Time Slips Away
As Hank made his entrance
That Lonesome Whistle Blowing
Bobby was still bleeding from
Mack The Knife
As Frank flew in on
A Summer Wind
Aretha was breaking
That Chain Of Fools
While BB cried out
The Thrill Is Gone
Smoky was drowning in
The Tears Of A Clown
And Sam kept promising
A Change Is Gonna Come
As the Fat Man looked down
from Blueberry Hill
Elvis chased the
Hound Dog out the back door
But Brenda had our
Emotions running high
When Satchmo assured us  
—It’s A Wonderful World

(Dreamsleep: October, 2023)

Seven dark prodigals approached in the night,
saying: “One has escaped and
journeyed into the light”

Seven dark prodigals with shadows now gone,
longed for he who had left them
—for he who was strong

Seven dark prodigals wandered the dark,
no safety in numbers,
in search of their heart

“We must look till he’s found,” I heard two of them
say,
seven sins unforgiven
—the eighth gone astray

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

And so it goes
from cradle to grave
From baby’s wail
to funeral laid

We reason, ponder,
dissent, and cry
As time repeats
and years go by

Sages offer
their grand excuse
In what’s left wanting
to feed the muse

But one thing’s certain
to never change
Death recycles
— the same old game

(The New Room: May, 2024)

Life,
but thread and thimble
—struggling with the hem

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

The gray dawn slaughters
the promise of spring,
a desperate last goodbye

Its poisonous haze mocks
a sky forsaken,
the sun again denied

Its blanket lowers
in a shroud of judgment,
whose verdict darkly stained

To deluge its exit
in torrents of thunder
—as light reflects in vain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

In the back
of my mind
there’s a shadow
Covering
what’s never
to be

In the back
of my mind
there’s a memory
Reminding
what’s dearest
to me

In the back
of my mind
there’s a longing
Driving
me constantly
on

In the back
of my mind
there’s a mantra
Repeating
its message
— in song

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

The places I’ve been
all part of me now,
roadmaps of intention
tracking landscapes endowed

The history I’ve written
covers chapter and verse,
of promises made
and commitments diverse

The road ever widens
my scope narrows down,
the past out of focus
leaving town after town

Tomorrow unbeckoned
I search for today,
the future unreckoned
—the moment in play

(The New Room: March, 2021)

Death came to feast
on pride and ill intent

Leaving only bones
—the marrow ****** dry

(Dreamsleep: July, 2021)

Happiness
you can’t explain
Forever joyous
— hope’s refrain

(The New Room: February, 2025)

Diminished
but ennobled,
the soldier came home
his two limbs
traded for the
sanctuary
of a deeper peace

Broken
in completeness,
his braces held proud
each battle
medaled
in the memory
—of his finest hour

(The New Room: November, 2021)

Emoted investment
dividends high
Buying then selling
as spirit contrives

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

(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Performance art
embracing the artist
The magic of youth
alive on the stage
Time takes direction
from a glorious past
The memories an encore
— forever to stay

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

Immortality
a panacea
if not for the cost
— mortality

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Knowledge
Charisma
And
Violence ...
The
Triumvirate
Of
*******

(Dreamsleep: October, 2023)

Like a boy in the wild
raised by wolves
my poetry is sired
Tracking the scent
of each hunted word
traps set for me most dire
Uncaught or caged
by academia
my trail still honor bound
To wander freely
beyond the wind
— alone to stand my ground

(Ronald McDonald House: February, 2024)

Stars light
the beckoning dawn
Shepherds sleep
the wolves have gone
Shadows weave
the morning wind
Eyes reopen
—deep within

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)