I said
what I had
to say

And did
what I had
to do

While asking
no one
to care

And seeking
nothing
from you

I went
where I had
to go

And saw
what I had
to see

To get
where I had
to get

And be
what I had
— to be

(Bryn Mawr College: June, 2025)

A raging success
or colossal failure

Anything else
—isn’t worth your time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

I go to the city
To be alone…
Distraction
Calling me away
From myself
Isolating my
Memory
Burying my
Thoughts
In endless concrete
Passing 1000 people
Never meeting
One
Never meeting
One
Who will tell me
About myself
Never meeting
One
Who will tell me
What is real
Never meeting
One
Who will ask the question
Why
In my darkest
Most confused
Moments
I go to the city
—to be alone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

If Panpsychism were true
—what could ever be false

(Dreamsleep: January, 2020)

It’s not the steps that you take
— but the footprints you leave

(Ithan Pennsylvania: January, 2024)

Answering with phrases loaned…
a paradox recalled

The choices, nouns and pronouns,
all verbs to rise or fall

Old questions freed, all doubt besieged,
defined and then dethroned

The power in each chosen word,
to borrow—not to own

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2019)

Each mind is a filter…
the wheat from the chaff

Each vision dissected,
to cry or to laugh

Each chance in the moment,
to live or to hide

Each reason a marker,
to vow or belie

Each leaf that has fallen,
the price that we’ve paid

Each morning recalling,
which bed is unmade

Each voice in the distance,
one name on the wind

Each memory unspoken
—to call from within

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2019)

I gave my heart to someone in the rain,
the clouds exploding, witness to my vows

The water carrying away each fervent wish
—to stream in happy aqueducts of love

(Dreamsleep: January, 2021)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imCOi7pqKh0

I put a saddle on the wind
and rode it through the storm

The bridle placed, the buckle cinched,
the reins, my soul reborn

Inside each stirrup passion spurs,
the present close at hand

Behind whose mane I charge within
—in search of who I am

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Dreaming in the shadows,
by the light of the moon

My feelings chasing words
—that can speak for us all

(Dreamsleep: October, 2019)

Contradiction…
a mortal trap

Looking forward,
while looking back

Direction frozen,
a timeless clock

To chime above
—life’s paradox

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2019)

The greatest times
are the one’s that surprise us

The greatest people
are the one’s who don’t

(H.U.P. May, 2020)

Are you technically perfect,
  but spiritually weak

Are your words so well crafted,
  your soul cannot speak

Are your rhythms unmetered,
  your feelings unrhymed

Are you stuck in a format,
  that kills the sublime

Do your stanzas all end,
  their beginnings destroyed

Does your summation grieve,
  its parts overjoyed

Can you escape sophistry,
  your craft turned to art

Can you risk all rejection
   —to create with your heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

Standing redundant
in an echoing wind,
renewing your vanity
with deference to all

At home on the fringes
where truth is an orphan,
you line up your enemies
canons shot at the wall

A general of
a malingering army,
whose entitled thinkers
lay truth in the grave

The devil is calling
his pulpit awaits you,
the olive branch hollow
—your memory enslaved

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: November, 2020)

Not always understanding…
  I write out the words

Lost in comprehension,
  till wonder returns

Each line a new postulate,
  no phrase left to chance

Last metaphor a song
—my mind still to dance

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

Where do you go
at the end of your dreams
Where do you go
when the daylight moves on

Where do you go
once your voice has run dry
Where do you go
—when tomorrow is gone

(Pagosa Springs Colorado: July, 2019-Rewritten 2-23-2021)

The gift
of a friend
A blessing
from God

An arm
that protects
A light
in the fog

The gift
of a friend
Enduring
and true

For life
everlasting
To live
— inside you

(To My Dear Friend, David Mackrell: February, 2025)

I wonder what
you’re doing tonight
Whose poking and prodding
my blue-eyed delight
Are you lonely and scared
of what nature has bidden
Are you angry and tired
of feeling downtrodden
Are you chasing the ghosts
of dreams thought forgotten
While praying for sleep
with the music forgiving
Are you looking inside
for answers forthcoming
Knowing only that you
hear the differences drumming

I wonder who
you are forever becoming
That boy in the woods
whose motor’s still running
The one at the shore
whose Sea Doo is flying
That man on the bike
where the mountains are calling
I think you will find
they’re protected inside
Sleeping together
awaiting your cry
And when you reach out
to embrace them again
Your world will be whole
—today to befriend

(:The New Room: May, 2022)

Talk about the future
and spoil the present
Fox in the henhouse
rats in the barn

Moment’s unspoiled
never in reference
Today, not tomorrow
prescience the charm

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)

Today was all you
wanted

The past now fraught
with pain

The hurt was set,
you could not forget

What our love
could not rename

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

A bigger bite of life
for a hunger meant to last
Insatiable inherence
starvation my repast

Partaking of tomorrow
in dreams of future feasts
Anticipations banquet
—where ravenous I eat

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

Death ever faithful
in spite of the glee
Holding our place
in wanton reprieve

We ever the cuckold
of life’s dark affairs
As quiet it waits
— a loyal au pair

(Dreamsleep: June, 2024)

Fading in the distance,
years trapped inside the past

The future just beyond our reach,
its vacuum deep and vast

Each moment to remind us,
when looking North and South

The horse’s mouth will speak the truth
—when present here and now

(Dreamsleep: December, 2020)

Beyond comparison,
they rise when we fall

Uniquely divergent,
to impale and enthrall

No reference or genre,
descriptions confound

Bowie and Jagger
—alone in the crowd

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)

I never chose to write like you,
it’s enough to write like me
My feelings live to shape each thought,
your passion foreign known
I need to use those gifts bequeathed,
while searching endlessly
And leave to you your native tongue
—and speak my words alone

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

Their shouts remain
as hope reclaimed
the smoke still
on the beach

The roars that hide
of those who died
is heard
within the breach

A spirit roams  
within the bones
of men
who went beyond

In freedom’s quest
to give their best
in times
— forever long

(Operation Dynamo - Dunkirk, 1940: February, 2025)

Polymath Siren,
her flower returns

New stirrings to write
new melody to learn

Renaissance memory,
its present announced

Freeing your psyche,
past-future recount

Polymath harlot,
  love pledged again

Petals now varied,
spread from within

Bouquet filled enigma,
here until gone

Leaving always one seedling
—to finish her song

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2017)

Alone,
without being lonely

In love,
with the air and the sky

In tune,
with those voices now calling

Released
—and forever to fly

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2019)

Trapped in the meter,
a prisoner of rhyme

My spirit indicted,
destroyer of time

A minstrels disciple,
epistle in hand

The sound and the rhythm,
my souls contraband

New couplets my jailer,
their sentences terse

The key to their freedom,
locked deep in the verse

And serving in silence,
chalk marks on the wall

I listen intently,
for one voice to call

Awaiting its pardon,
this conviction will end

My words liberated
—to forever amend

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

Someone
lost in a meandering season

Somebody
crying for all the wrong reasons

Somehow
married to a new in between

Someway
missing what others have seen

Someplace
the meaning stays hidden and waits

Sometimes
my wishes both early and late

Something
infused in the moments I’ve lost

Somewhere
abandoned — the ultimate cost


(Dreamsleep: October, 2024)

Mercurial freedom
Beyond sexuality
Love trumping weakness
—truth beyond lies

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2019)

Together,
Our hearts may start a fire
That in isolation
Waits a spark

Eternal,
Our souls may join as one
As our spirits
—light the dark

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

Hitchhiking Angel,
twelve stringed harp,
wandering spirit
—Elk City wind

(Tucumcari New Mexico: January, 2019)

With distance in his voice,
he traveled on the wind

Guitar case for a saddle,
to ride each beckoning whim

A folk tale left untethered,
his melody to claim

Each song an affirmation
—his legend to refrain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2020)