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Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2019
Searching through the forest,
chasing dreams your sleep has wagered

And finding yourself in the mindless
spatial wasteland

You play two-handed poker
with the devil of your fright

The Prince holding just one card,
as you gamble it all…

Forever promising:
“This hand will be your ticket out”

He deals chance from the bottom,
this third time to be the charm

Your hand is folded,
as the present fires upon the night

Hitting your fate dead center,
all that’s left in quicker sand

Drowning the last excuse
of your bloodless past refusals

Salvation left in full retreat
—all exits thrice denied

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2019
Broken feelings…
My chest of gold
A torments ransom
No trinkets sold
The treasure bounteous
Walls lined with blood
Its hurt and pain
I have withstood
The jewels lack sparkle
But shimmer deep
Their cut and clarity
My soul to keep
And words if cheapened
Must leave this throne
As the lid reopens
  —on the pain I own

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2018
Broken feelings
My chest of gold
A ransom of torment
No trinkets sold
The treasure bounteous
Walls lined with blood
Its hurt and pain
I have withstood
The jewels lack sparkle
But shimmer deep
Their cut and clarity
My soul to keep
And words if cheapened
Must leave this throne
As the lid reopens
—on the pain I own

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2021
Outrunning his destiny,
overtaking his fate
Reprieving tomorrow
—all time to abate

(Dreamsleep: August, 2021)
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2019
She wiped the tears
from the eyes of tomorrow

Her present uncovered
—her vision refound

(Superior Wisconsin: August, 2019)
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2017
Like a wounded dog,
  I can never forget

As the memories grow,
  not fade

My warning stated,
  “The Ice Is Thin”

Where my sun turns
  into shade

If I told you once,
  I told you twice

“There’s a line,
  you’re not to cross”

But your love trespassed,
  with payment deep

As my bite breaks through
  the frost

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2024
Live in
the jungle
Exist
in the zoo

The cage
all consuming
When captive
... adieu

At risk
in the wild
Or safe
through the glass

All life in
the difference
To roar
— or to gasp

(The New Room: September, 2024)
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2021
Poets believe
they were born out of time,
each era too early, too late,
out of rhyme

Creations main doctrine
for those so inclined
connects what’s unspoken
—to a far greater mind

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2019
Through the keyhole darkly,
  he could now remember his name

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his medicine kicked in once again

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he knew his daughter by her face

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he was now back home in his space

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his dog was closely by his side

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his eyes though saddened, opened wide

Through the keyhole darkly,
  her voice unwrapped a precious gift

Through the keyhole darkly
  a love once anchored, set adrift

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he felt the light begin to dim

Through the keyhole darkly
  his markers fade, his reference thin

Through the keyhole darkly
  the killer thief arrives once more

Through the keyhole darkly
  all loss of self—a closing door

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2016
Through the keyhole darkly,
he could now remember his name

Through the keyhole darkly,
his medicine kicked in once again

Through the keyhole darkly,
he knew his daughter by her face

Through the keyhole darkly,
he was back at home in his space

Through the keyhole darkly,
his dog was closely by his side

Through the keyhole darkly,
his eyes though saddened, opened wide

Through the keyhole darkly,
her voice unwrapped the precious gift

Through the keyhole darkly,
a love once anchored, set adrift

Through the keyhole darkly,
he felt the light begin to dim

Through the keyhole darkly,
his markers fade, his reference thin

Through the keyhole darkly,
the killer thief arrives once more

Through the keyhole darkly,
  all loss of self—a closing door

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2018
Through the keyhole darkly,
  he could now remember his name

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his medicine kicked in once again

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he knew his daughter by her face

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he was now back home in his space

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his dog was closely by his side

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his eyes though saddened, opened wide

Through the keyhole darkly,
  her voice unwrapped a precious gift

Through the keyhole darkly
  a love once anchored, set adrift

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he felt the light begin to dim

Through the keyhole darkly
  his markers fade, his reference thin

Through the keyhole darkly,
  the killer thief arrives once more

Through the keyhole darkly
  all loss of self—a closing door

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2016
Through the keyhole darkly,
  he could now remember his name

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his medicine kicked in once again

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he knew his daughter by her face

Through the keyhole darkly,
  he was now back home in his space

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his dog was closely by his side

Through the keyhole darkly,
  his eyes though saddened, opened wide

Through the keyhole darkly,
  her voice unwrapped the precious gift

Through the keyhole darkly,
a love once anchored, set adrift

Through the keyhole darkly,
he felt the light begin to dim

Through the keyhole darkly,
his markers fade, his reference thin

Through the keyhole darkly,
the killer thief arrives once more

Through the keyhole darkly,
—all loss of self and nothing more

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2020
We have only our perceptions,
but how honest can they be
Where one man sees the color red,
the colorblind can’t see

When trapped in three dimensions,
we must push against the walls
Until we’re free of all constraints
—and clarity befalls

(Wayne Pennsylvania: December, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Oct 2022
The deeper you dig
the simpler it gets
Each question supplanted
—the truth in your debt

(Dreamsleep: October, 2022)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2024
Virtuoso
take me home
to a place
I’ve never been before

Virtuoso
play my song
in a voice
I’ve never heard in lore

Virtuoso
be my Muse
your flute heard calling
through the mist

Virtuoso
fortune’s child
when darkness casts
— my soul remiss

(1st Book of Prayers: June, 2024)
Listen for the rumble
hear it roar
Retribution’s coming
from distant fjords

Your lack of judgment
and crass disdain
Will mark the sentence
its will proclaims

Feel the vibration
wake the hopeless
From their sleep
impassioned dreams

From the forest
to the ocean
Nature’s rage
— its verdict screams

(Dreamsleep: March, 2025)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2020
Logic will never explain the Spirit,
  its reasoning is vain

Metaphysics without transcendence,
  all thunder—never rain

Ontology dismissing love,
  a life of death and pain

Lusting for what we’ll never have
—hating what we can’t explain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2018
No time set aside
The words reformed
Again at their own pace

No place to reside
They’re written down
On a napkin or empty space

When I try to hide
They find me sure
In mountain or in plain

As new moments chide
The past adieu
  —and thunder turns to rain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2023
Marry your will
unto your heart
all Heaven to bless
—and to guide

(Thanksgiving: 2023)
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2022
I should only believe in a God
that would know how to dance
and a devil slain by laughter
—beyond gravity’s wrath

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
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)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2020
The wound bleeds free
—that kills the angry heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2023
Ideas
or wordcraft
There’s times
you must choose

The style
or substance
Which one
left askew

One choice
or the other
Becomes
zero-sum

Delivering
prescience
If words
—on the run

(The New Room: March, 2023)
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2023
Soft and complacent
our youth in denial
What evil disguises
the past has on file

Wishing and hoping
a smokescreen at best
Masking our fear
while fouling our nest

The seeds of our history
whose names have been ******
And mocked until cancelled
our heritage banned

In near distant cauldrons
a *** stirs and boils
Awaiting our downfall
—and all we’ve despoiled

(The New Room: November, 2023)
Kurt Philip Behm Nov 2024
Killing shared values
our lives on death row
Kinship aborted
— the world soon to blow

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2020
Knowing the answer,
excuses imbue

The right thing for others,
never following through

A feigned double standard,
the past in pursuit

Reckoning scheduled
—payment en route

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2023
Are you frightened by things
that return in the night
things that crawl inward
things lost from sight

Is darkness a veil
to hide and conceal
what daylight sends running
what daylight reveals

Your memory a spring
that evening coils back
reloading your fear
as shadows attack

And sleep brings no refuge
when dreams have been ******
whose nightmares will haunt you
—till dawn is at hand

(Villanova University: August, 2023)
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2020
Is a promise left unspoken,
the breath that holds the key

Unlocking what the twilight brings
—till dawn can set us free

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2021
I stole from myself,
never paying me back,
rich in the spoils of war

Identity gone,
the body count total
—larcenous guilt to endure

(The New Room: March, 2021)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2024
Your wounds bleed past tomorrow
an inconvenient truth
Unsutured blame — till death reclaims
its healing absolute


(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2020
“Blood is thicker than water,
what we had thicker than blood”

All wounds long healed by memory’s salve,
divined from up above

Our bonding copper wire,
wrapped round a thousand times

Till fortune gets down on both knees,
and bows—our soul’s conjoined


(Listening To Bob Weir: March, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2020
Time…
our most precious consumable

Buying each footstep
—lace on the pall

(Dreamsleep: April, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2020
Thy self a grand impostor,
what other people see

A bark that hides what fate ingrains,
a cover that deceives

It’s others held opinion,
that pulp you hide behind

Till lightning splits your trunk in two
—the roots left undefined

(Ronald McDonald House: February, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2018
I lived inside her laughter,
  I slept inside her song

I wrote inside her meaning
  —till our wishes all were gone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2019
I lived inside her laughter,
I slept inside her song,
I wrote inside her meaning
  —till our wishes all were gone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)
Learn to Fandango
castanet in your hand
Tambourine calling
its bells to command

Dance every Tango
before it’s too late
Death in the offing
— the wolf at the gate

(Dreamsleep: April, 2025)
Kurt Philip Behm May 2020
She only leaves me when it’s raining,
to wash away the pain

Clouds an ablution to her memories dark,
drowning a past refrain

She returns as the skies are clearing,
to dry inside my warmth

Our love in place until thunder breaks
—again to chase the storm

(Dreamsleep: May, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Apr 2019
Easily measured,
  not clearly defined

Often lamented,
  more often unkind

Its loss we all mourn,
  searching heaven to find

The time to become
  —a new past to rewind

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Sep 2018
Easily measured
  not clearly defined

Often lamented
  more often unkind

Its loss we all mourn
  searching heaven to find

The time to become
  —a new past to rewind

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2019
Forever rented,
  never owned

The moment leased
  —the future loaned

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
Poetry is more than words,
some is written, some is heard

Often long, yet sometimes short,
its power shared in bold retort

Questions cry, demanding verse,
with feelings new, still unrehearsed

Its focus like a laser aims,
at souls that search—time and again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2016
Poetry is more than words,
  some is written—some is heard

Often long—yet sometimes short,
  its power shared in strong retort

Questions cry—demanding verse,
with feelings new, still unrehearsed

Its focus like a laser aims,
  at souls that search—time and again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)
Kurt Philip Behm Aug 2020
Has the future made a profit
by selling out your dreams

Marking up expectations,
closing out self esteem

Interest bearing hopes uncashed,
wishes in arrears

Creditors loom, the past foreclosed
—tomorrow paid in tears

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Dec 2019
When the ages rock,
all divergence reverts to type

And time bows to the inner voice
—of eternity

(Dreamsleep: December, 2019)
Kurt Philip Behm Jun 2019
Writing verse,
I dally forth

Hours more stole,
than loaned

Prose to suffer,
and wait in line

Time once more
—deposed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2017
Writing verse,
  I dally forth

The hour more stole,
  than loaned

The prose to suffer,
  and stand in line

With time once more,
—deposed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)
Kurt Philip Behm Jan 2021
Spending the future,
saving the past

Tomorrow debentured
—moments that last

(The New Room: January, 2021)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2020
Does memory store from front to back,
or more like side to side

Do childhood dreams seem closer now,
than yesterdays goodbye

Does memory scorn all month and year,
a dimension of its own

Remembering best what matters most
—defying time enthroned

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Mar 2020
Always is a long, long time,
today is longer still

The beginning of what can never end,
consciousness distills

Tomorrow is the shortest time,
when looked at from today

And yesterday no time at all,
whose notion drifts away

Never is all time denied,
its twisted tongue proclaims

The ending to what can’t begin,
mindfulness disdains

Here is where the treadways cross,
all roads found turning in

And now the moment pre-ordained
—transcendence waits within

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)
Kurt Philip Behm Feb 2021
Buried in the leaves of a Fall gone by,
memories wait for Spring

Entombed in hope as Winter reclaims,
till birds return to sing

Cold and dark, the seeds of change,
lay dormant ill disposed

Snow is falling, the wind blows hard,
escape routes all but closed

Hearing new footsteps walking above,
the weight compressed and strained

My sentence malingers, time frozen deep
—the cold to ease the pain

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)
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