Their footsteps returned
as a shroud fell around me
Hiding me from the heels
of their jackened boots
Direction was lost
escape but a memory
Shouting their curses
re-echoing the past

(Shadows Of Anne Frank: November, 2023)

Is something unphysical
in charge of this world

That lines every moment,
unseen and unfurled

Scientists say NO,
breathing fire as they shout

What is it then
that scatters atoms about

Darwin had his theory,
well accepted—unproved

That things change themselves
on condition and mood

But somewhere deep
in the backs of our minds

A notion lay hidden,
firmly placed to remind

This proof we so revel in,
whose truth we revere

Has constantly changed
since the dinosaurs were here

So try to stay open
as new data evolves

Remembering the axioms
it now must resolve

And tune in to something,
not burdened by facts

The rock of all ages
—still blindly intact

(Radnor Pennsylvania: October, 2020)

Living a life of isolation…
writing became my friend
Celebrating the day’s events,
fresh names inside my pen

Though others think me lonely,
the truth is far from that
Comrades made with each new word,
in fiction and in fact

But only to a writer
will these thoughts resonate
With voices calling from beyond,
I often can’t abate

And when my world goes silent,
I open once again
An authored book, a friend for life
—my soulmate till the end.

(Beaupre: February, 2021)

That’s the way life is…
greatness wrapped in a tattered box,
lined with regret
compliments laced with a negative refrain,
hiding the truth
Fear and delight masquerading as one,
chanting behind the mask
—that’s the way life is

(Dreamsleep: July, 2019)

Questions…
the measure of uncertainty

Answers
—divine masquerade

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)

Much of the time we’re faking it,
the airs we put on most false

Impressions made and set in jade,
green onions the main course

Our friends change out with stature,
as silver turns to gold

An alchemist’s dream, the grandest scheme
—our hearts once warm left cold

(King Of Prussia Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

Like a thief in the night
academia
wears enlightenment
as a mask
hiding its true agenda
— a stranglehold on the truth

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Hiding in the middle class,
I made my way through life

Looking like I had it made,
no struggle and no strife

Others couldn’t see it,
as it metastasized inside

A terminal metamorphosis
—hidden from your eyes

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Coming out of the shadows,
reality struck hard

Changing me forever
—leading me away

(Dreamsleep: August, 2020)

Passing through its own reflection,
eternity is beauty
—and beauty is truth

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)

Rat-a-tat, Rat-a tat-tat,
the mice crawl through the walls

You hear them best when lights are low,
the cat still yet to call

Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat-tat,
straight up and overhead

The world they know—the world you know,
conjoined but never bred

Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat-tat,
your solitude a ruse

What lies inside beyond plain sight
—a kinship to bemuse

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

My verse is like
a bespoke set of clothes,
fit the thing that counts

Each article worn,
new memories born,
to tighten or let out

My head to my toes,
its covering goes,
whose message spoken clear

To tailor new moments,
each stitch a new thread
—bench made to endear

(The New Room: April, 2021)

Judging you by what you wear
or by the car you drive
the words forever hollow
whose bees have left the hive
Taking stock while looking back
through scarlet colored glass
the vision false, the judgment worse
its memory to outlast
Forming all opinion
by what is wrapped or clad
deception in the present sense  
the view less good than bad
Stepping back while looking in
my eyes take off their shield
to see much deeper than before
—my prejudice to yield

(The New Room: March, 2021)

Embracing the myth,
I hide deep within

More Devil than Savior,
aboriginal sin

Excuses my sacraments,
grace bartered for lies

Judgment internal
—redemption denied

(Dreamsleep: February, 2020)

Alone in the desert…
nothingness shouts in your ear
Where space like a giant megaphone of silence
calls to what is forever lost
Sirens of endless quartz in the wind
carrying the emptiness far
Sirens of endless quartz in the wind
—burying all you believe

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)

Silver lining happiness
though there
not often seen
In many shades of inference
ignoring red
and green
Slight handed and implicit
though felt
still out of view
Beneath the veil resplendent
and known …
to only you

(Haverford College: September, 2023)

A Poet’s ink…  
more sacred
than a Martyr’s blood

Each word
divinely measured
—all time in glory of

(Dreamsleep: September, 2020)

The chosen
tone deaf
to their fortune

Musicians
their heads
in the sand

The roadies
eat pizza
still frozen

While Angels
play bass
in the band

Indulgence
the pick
on their fretboard

Entranced
by the lure
of the ****

Benighted
the riffs
play without them

Not going
or coming
— just gone

(The New Room: March, 2024)

Is time distorted
or our memory of time

A finite connection
—dimension sublime

(Driggs Idaho: September, 2021)

Genetics,
our cruelest mistress
the herald’s phantom
In fated shadow
a birthmark staining
—our darkest pall

(Dreamsleep: March, 2022)

Justice has no borders
liberty no walls
Freedom lives beyond the realm
of tyrants big and small

Blood once spilled in battle
generations to enthrall
Sealing hope in memories deep
—to those who heed the call

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

To believe or deny,
enlightenment dares
Our lack of acceptance,
a three-legged chair

We feel it and breathe it,
and live it de jure
As minds are left gasping
at something so pure

At this very point
rejection sets in
Our spirit’s attacked,
the reasoning thin

Millennium’s secrets
will come and will go
But what can’t be explained
—the best thing to know

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: December, 2020)

Money,
is not as powerful as revenge

The Dollar,
can never buy back a vendetta

Fury,
cuts sharp into a monetary corpse

Bleeding red,
the green trails of betrayals past


(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)

A ring on his finger
—ribbon around his heart

(Dreamsleep: August, 2019)

I didn’t stay young
but I never got old
My cards often weak
when watching you fold
I sailed into weather
the saltiest balked
And bit off big pieces
while walking my talk

I painted with brushes
DaVinci had blessed
And wandered and wondered
much better than best
I took from my heart
and gave to my soul
The circle expanding
— three halves to my whole

(The New Room: April, 2024)

Is reason the straightest road
to percipience
Or is truth intuition
—memory’s black hole

(Dreamsleep: August, 2021)

Be wary of that trap once set
  —for yourself

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)

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)

Ironic...
what we forgive in our heroes

Their faults,
tragic badges of fame

Our glasses,
colored rose without brambles

Their legend
—sealed in myth beyond blame

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2019)

There’s no greater distance
—than closeness lost

(Dreamsleep: August, 2023)

From the Devil’s stable,
I picked the fastest stallion

And rode beyond perdition
—through eternity’s flames

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

Many things
exist beyond
never
truly known
Every night
I die asleep
in dreams
left unatoned

Waking up
the weight’s still there
each breath
in labor bound
As voices live
within my ear
answers
— still unfound

(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)

The borders of space
—where limits go to die

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2019)

Risking it all
in the earthbound sky

Her summit was calling,
the weather defies

An avalanche beckoned,
one Sherpa was lost

A trek through the death zone,
another one gone

The temperature dropping,
the oxygen sparse

My crampons now heavy
and feeling much worse

To retreat or push on,
the danger the same

All hail Sagarmatha
—still calling my name

(Memories Of Nepal: March, 2021)