I refuse to talk with bigots,
does that apply to you

I freely open up my mind,
to greet the world anew

Discriminatory and hateful barbs,
divide and tear apart

What poetry tries its best to mend,
inside an honest heart

Those few most vile hide behind
their fear inspired views

That bring about the worst in us,
to slander and accuse

As days grow short, my time is spent,
beneath a sun that shines

Speaking to the highest traits
—humanity divines

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

Transcending jazz,
folk and rock,
blues master’s stop and bow

Winwood standing
far above,
we ask not why—but how

(Watching The Master On AXS: March, 2021)

Courage travels ...
where reason will not go

Wisdom teaches ...
what intellect cannot show

Prescience offers ...
what knowledge can’t explain

Love transient ...
infatuation to remain


(Dreamsleep: April, 2025)

Politics and war
twin pillars of conflict
“Charge into weakness
retreat if there’s strength”  

High in the tower
dividing to conquer
Fate looking down
— as your destiny waits

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Planted where I am,
I watched you blossom in the field

Time being what it is,
I picked each moment that would yield

Love that’s to be shared
takes on new meaning as it sows

Joy to spread and flower
—beyond where limitation grows

(The New Room: January, 2021)

The sharper the point,
  the deeper the wound

The shorter the verse
  —the truth at high-noon

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

Halfway to Tucumcari
the light began to wane
Halfway to Tucumcari
the guilt turned into blame

Halfway to Tucumcari
I heard that voice again
Halfway to Tucumcari
—running from the end

(Chama New Mexico: August, 2022)

Maintaining his distance,
Dylan felt safe

A musical drifter
not born for one place

His words once released,
to live on their own

The road calling windward
—far from his home  

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Too many
times
I walked down
that road

Too many
signs
said “lighten
your load”

Too many
faces
came out of
the rain

Too many
phrases
I couldn’t
explain

(now)

Too many
voices
attract
and repel

Too many
choices
heaven
or hell

Too many
warnings
in search
of an ear

Too many
mornings
in love
with my fear

Too many
chances
to hide
from the change

Too many
off ramps
that lead
— to more pain

(Site Of The Main Point: September, 2024)

Ectopic Wanderings

Born far from where
I was supposed to be,
nearer to the end
I chased the beginning
throughout my life
—forever going home

(Red Lodge Montana: September, 2021)


18kt Memories

I’ll wear a Rolex
once I’m dead,
as accolades surround

The past what’s left
of what was right,
buried in the ground

Beneath my dreams
above my hope,
one wish to tell the tale

Of life now lived
with death in charge
—new gold among the shale

(Ouray Colorado: September, 2021)


As Darkness Fell…

I got in the door
when no one was looking
and stayed
as the world looked away

I crashed every feeling
borrowing dreams
awake
in the afternoon’s mourning

(Ely Nevada: September, 2021)





Together Alone

Wisdom and love
in conflict they wed
to sleep through the darkness
—alone in the same bed

(Gardiner Montana: September, 2021)


Rent To Own

Once you move past
the imagery and symbols
vision stays constant
—connection secure

(Thermopolis Wyoming: September, 2021)

Better to reach for something
and miss
than to hold back playing it safe

Destiny in the intention
and choice
hesitance falling from grace

Better to be adopted
by truth in flight
than the orphan of a lie

Where words and music marry as one
on the highest mountain
—you climb

(The New Room: January, 2024)

Parasites never worry
about the host
******* out the lifeblood
—spitting on the corpse

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

In the song of the antelope,
  the Prince heard his Queen

Now locked in a convent,
  her beauty unseen

The tower still distant,
  its ramparts on guard

Just one point of entry,
  a hero’s reward

The mist in the valley,
  her prison unseen

Through clouds in the distance,
  her pleadings, her screams
  
The miles before him,
  twin antlers ahead

His future unfolding
  —his destiny wed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

God can’t become
that greater
than he is
God can’t become
tomorrow
or today
God can’t become
now or then
when always
God but exists
pure reason
— faith relayed

(The First Book Of Prayers: March, 2025)

The only child
but favorite
of two ‘outlaws’
mare and stud

He bucked each
gelded moment
on their wild ride
of love

Until that day
he up and left
their branding iron
of pain

To wander high
and lonesome
mongst the free  
and tumbling sage

In search of one
last bronc to mount
that one last
horn to make

And spur the wreckage
of his youth
as Angels
— pull the Gate


(Pendleton Round-Up: June, 1993
Elko Nevada: Cowboy Poetry Reading: January, 1994)

A madman’s humanity
of which we decry
When he has those feelings
the same, you and I

How can he commit
such actions of death
Then cry when a comrade
lets out his last breath

A madman with feelings
the concept abhors
That he loves his children
his dog and his ******

His body dies ******
his legend to live
Embroiled in fury
—only time can forgive

(The New Room: May, 2022)
Watching ‘Narcos’ on Netflix

Sebastian
couldn’t live
without saving
the walls
His paint
covering over
dire messages
scrawled

All passersby  
witnessed
each canvas
restored
Reframing
dark alleys
with hope
evermore

Sebastian
a warrior
of brush
and stroke fame
Graffiti
a pockmark
his quest
to disclaim

Alone
in his wander
where shadows
hold court
Each wall of new
slander
his palette
— retorts  

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

You don’t have to die
to linger in hell

You don’t have to go hungry
to starve

You don’t need the darkness
to find yourself blind

While the devil
—his shadow endures

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

The Crucifixion self-endowed,
  the greatest of all men

His death then chosen, not denied,
   message not forsaken

His torment was a sacrifice,
  an offering to all

Our souls to rise through bread and wine
   —his voice again to call

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2016)
         From ‘The Book Of Prayers’

Writing to a standard,
embattled in time,
his words both sparse and dire

All targets in sight,
his focus most dear,
new readers to inspire

His argument made,
with phrases reborn,
the verdict theirs to choose

All time on the run,
his will to attack
—with nothing left to lose

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2019)

I’m actually tired of being myself…
can I be you for awhile

I hide from the mirror and monogrammed lies,
as I run from an image defiled

I thought I was safe and had made my escape,
when memory reminded again

“You can run, you can hide, your indenture unkeyed
—the chains locked secure in your head”

(The New Room: January, 2021)

Life is creation  
not a discovery
Distant horizons
the palette we choose

Painting and singing
loving and dreaming
Memory a servant
—time but a ruse

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)

Anger is the last thing to go
—as memory fades away

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)

Disco burnout,
fever rampant erosion

Empty glances,
mirrored hollow drums

Bleeding, starving,
passive alertness

Madeup, putdown
—treadmill run

(Woodlands Hotel: Wilkes Barre- January, 1980)

Distant meandering,
macro denial
the moment a slave
to eternity’s child

Caught on a tether,
all freedom a myth
the boundaries self-serving
with nothing at risk

The sum past the tally,
its measure unscored
the players outnumbered
their names to obscure

Distant meandering,
macro denial
a lens that won’t focus
—an image beguiled

(Dreamsleep: February, 2022)

If a poem doesn’t live up
to its title
The moment is reclaimed
by time

Its chance to anoint
when read disappoints
A bell  
—unable to chime

(The New Room: April, 2021)

Built on envy
and city lights
The vagrant actor
alone at night

In hidden alleys
with tinsel thorns
On celluloid
new lies are born

A big screen promise
of broken dreams
The waitress car hop
on Wilshire scheme

Drugged on stardom
with toxic friends
What footlight’s start
— the darkness ends

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Sacred in its offering,
christening the past

Wellspring of indulgence
—running free at last

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021)

A river of Angels
in torrents of Grace
Redemption awaiting
—the delta in place

(1st Book Of Prayers: October, 2023)

At nineteen
I wanted to live in Colorado
Till that first weekend I spent
in Cheyenne

At twenty-five
I wanted to live in Montana
Leaving Yellowstone
as Glacier took my hand

At thirty
I wanted to live in Alaska
Within Denali
where the Kodiaks roam

But as the years have progressed
I discovered
All I ever wanted to be
—was home

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

Letting up
provides
the tightest
grip  

Creating
space for
credence
to stick

Room
to wander
room
to grow

Space
when sacred
truth
— to know

(Deamsleep: January, 2024)

Are you rapacious with your poetry,
avaricious in your verse

Covetous of those words you read,
jealous—maybe worse

Do your thoughts deceive with what you write,
does bad intention rule the day

Those tracks you leave, the trap you’ve set
—with you the final prey

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Amazing
how smells
attach to a memory

More vivid
than eyesight
hearing or touch

They wait
deep inside us
to capture the moment

When all
other senses
—have started to rust

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)

You’ll never be sure
until you might die
Power imploding
—rebirthed in goodbye

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)

Detour to heaven,
  back road to joy

Change of direction
  —hope redeployed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2019)

Faith is stronger than its outcome,
an end unto itself

Where souls enmire in hope afire
—to light the dream indwelt

(The Book Of Prayers: November, 2019)

The tyranny of modernity
—aspiration enslaved

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)