I took two months off,
  all words in remiss

I took two months off,
  putting nothing at risk

I took two months off,
  your voice—a deaf ear

I took two months off,
  without holding you near

I took two months off,
  death breathing inside

I took two months off,
  from memory to hide

I took two months off,
  you waited in pain

I took two months off
  —before starting again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2017)

The eyes of the artist
  the spirit of man

The spark before the fire
  the vision—before the plan

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

From silver to gold,
  the years marched along

As language emboldened
  its words into song

The grey of my twilight
  a welcome relief

All reasoned excuses
  another’s belief

As the winds through the canyon
  blow the valley to sand

This ending now welcome
  —beginning again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

From silver to gold,
  the years marched along

As language emboldened
  its words into song

The grey of my twilight
  a welcome relief

All reasoned excuses
  now another’s belief

As the winds through the canyon
  blow the valley to sand

This ending now welcome
  —a new beginning again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

How quiet are the closing moments
  of Winter

Its final lingering shadow
  passing over your soul

Days lengthening into night
  beyond all protest

What ended in shades of red and brown
  —beginning again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

Hiding within the rhyme
  lies a melody of pronouncement
  lifting the words up off the page

Its liberation spoken freely
  within times expanding moment
  giving and taking—beginning to end

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2019)

You want it to make sense
You want it to become clear
Your feigned self importance
No longer precious or dear
But the only one caring
And the one still in doubt
A mirrored reflection
Of what never comes out
Lunch breaks upon you
Again eating alone
Your steak is still raw
Chewed right to the bone
The banter around you
Seems innocent and yet
The shroud that surrounds you
Wards off and deflects
“You gain nothing by trying”
You gain nothing you say
As you begin crying
For those cast astray
That girl in the tall grass
The one in your arms
Went to be with another
When you bartered your charms
Her daughter who’s grown now
Some say looks like you
Could it be then you wonder
When the times were so few
You pay the cashier
And slowly walk out
This bill had been dear
More than you had allowed
With the bone in your pocket
You head back to your desk
As the cry of a mockingbird
Decries and behests
Your pen then runs dry
As you again start to write
On your left eye a sty
All vision in blight
Only then do you notice
Hanging pink and in front
And you know that your future
Now a dog that can’t hunt
So you walk to his office
And sit down in the chair
You look at him soulless
And try not to care
He explains “That he’s sorry”
That “The timing’s not right”
He says that “You’re valued,
But be gone by tonight”
As you clean out your desk
A new feeling partakes
You look up to the ceiling
Knowing all that’s at stake
And that feeling is good
That feeling seems right
As the feeling then pushes
And the feeling alights
You decide now emboldened
To stop on the way home
At the house of that one
You left mistreated alone
You heard of divorce
And you wonder how bad
The damage it left her
Was it worse than you had
As you slow down your car
She stands in the yard
As you speed up your heart
She says “Directions, how far”
She does not recognize you
Have you changed all that much
She looks at you puzzled
As you long for her touch
And you drive away empty
As you drive away cold
And you drive away blackened
From your heart to your soul
But your path is now clear
Though you’ve no place to go
And those things that you’ve feared
Have now rightly been shown
As you walk in the kitchen
The door never had locked
Standing behind you still smitten
The one you thought had forgot
“Was that you in the car earlier
Was that you, really you
I couldn’t believe it
Because I still love you, I do”
   A reward wrapped in burlap
   The priciest kind
   Where if never rejected
   You are never to find
   So make just one more promise
   To then promise again
   To be true to your feelings
     —from beginning to end

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2014)

Dying,
   behind the mask you wear

Victim,
   —of your own masquerade

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2017)

Be careful as you age….
when they try to convince you
that your rough edges need to
come off

Be careful when they say that
“Your words need to be more
carefully chosen and more appropriate
to the politically elite”

Be careful when they threaten those
things that you have developed over
time that they will never appreciate
or understand

But be most careful when they tell  
you…. “We are really your friends and
have only your best interests at heart”
—be most careful

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2015)

Nerve ending fuse
  emotional dynamite

The spark of betrayal
—lit by a friend

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)