Memory left drowning
betwixt and beyond
floating discarded
on yesterday’s pond

The future is calling
in voices distressed
reservoirs draining
tomorrow beset

The bridge crossing over
these waters is rough
its toll but the present
time never enough

The turnstile upon you,
its arm is still down
the cost what you’re leaving
its promise unsound

But once set in motion,
there’s no turning back
allusion receding
with blood in its tracks

All hail to the moment,
the instant supreme
whose motion internal
—all else but a dream

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)

Trapped in the moment
escaping with rhyme
Words to my rescue
—time after time

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

Borrow someone else’s truth…
but there’s one you need to own

Whose lease runs out as time grows short
—life’s contract yours alone

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2017)

After the diagnosis,
each moment a dream
of years and then months
and days in between

After the surgery,
the dream became real
time again captured
—the sentence repealed

(The New Room: December, 2021)

The tragedy of us
is that we couldn’t overcome
ourselves

To become who
we were meant to be
—sharing the greatest gift of all

(Dreamsleep: July, 2019)

Waiting for life to come to me,
the clock ticked down to one

With barely but a second left,
my tendency to run

With nothing left but one last tick,
all motion seemed to stop

Perspective changed, then rearranged,
a lifetime on the spot

My eyes won’t blink, the fear too great,
of staying closed for good

As from a distant galaxy,
I finally understood

All life had boiled down to this,
eternity defined

When everything that ever was,
together crossed my mind

I left the past and future mired,
to breed and then deceive

And took this present life unbound
—unto my soul reprieved

(The New Room: May, 2022)

Phrases string together,
letters front to back

Birds of the same feather,
in each other’s tracks

Marching toward transcendence,
words reformed and strong

Flocking into unison
—flying into song

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2020)

A Poet is not like other writers …
all narrative be ******

Charging and fusing each word with a spark
redundancy to ban

Poets and Novelists both drawn to the fire
their kindling looks the same

The differences clear when striking a match
— poetic verse rising in flames

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Innocent tonight
— guilt waits with the dawn

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Creativity…
undemocratic

Tyrants of insight,
breaking new ground

Vision on fire,
effigy’s burning

Painting’s unframed
—all muses set free

(The New Room: November, 2020)

I think like a buddhist
but pray like a nun

I see like the mountain
but reach like the sun

I stand like Gibraltar
but rage like the sea

And love like a child
—reborn unto Thee

(First Book Of Prayers: May, 2017)

I think like a Buddhist,
but pray like a nun

I see like the mountain,
but reach like the sun

I stand like Gibraltar,
but rage like the sea

And love like a child
—reborn unto Thee

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2017)

Fighting his very nature,
conflict raging inside him again

Feelings demand what thoughts can’t command
—neither enemy nor friend

(Dreamsleep: September, 2019)

Caught within the membranes
of a lost tomorrow,

time stood still

No sound, no sight, no
fresh vibration,

as eternity waits

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

My girlfriend has a girlfriend
as pigeons flee the roost
Pronouns crying God knows what
knots are coming loose

I was my girlfriend’s boyfriend
when lines unblurred defined
My love abeyant, Limbo’s child
—left here misaligned  

(Villanova University: June, 2022)

Most of our lives are lived
in an in-between world…
yesterday and tomorrow the bookends
to what has happened
and what is yet to come
ordering the mayhem in an artificial attempt
at unity and control
escape becomes an option for the very few
who no longer believe in the prescriptive banner,
the forecasted promise,
the dogmatic challenge
—or the printer’s ink

(Dreamsleep: October, 2020)

A man loses his father
and adulthood begins
Bathwater draining
the baby within

A son who is sireless
new destiny’s child
Whose choice is to run
or to stand and beguile

Alone with his memories
one image sustains
The voice but a whisper
its spirit reclaimed

To carry the title
his lineage holds
A surname retendered
—new history untold

(The New Room: July, 2023)

Whisking away tomorrow in a velvety breath
—to write once more

(Dreamsleep: April, 2020)

Is a poem ever really done,
can the last word not begin

The Angels voting lines impearled
each phrase into a hymn

Is a poem ever given back,
to whom the words behold

Each letter turned into a string
—a harp of heaven's gold

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)

Lip Service

We speak of truth, our souls delight,
but actions prove us wrong

If words alone could make it so
—each day would end in song

(University Of Pennsylvania: May, 2021)

There's just a set number
of poems to write

And writing the last,
I’m done

To die but alone,
with my words as the pall

Breathless verses
—left unsung

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)

Did you edit away the fire,
  in your attempt to be correct

Do your words make you a liar,
  as they break and disconnect

Is that order you chased after,
  now a deserted no-mans land

With your mind and spirit sinking
  —in a literate quicksand

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

The voice of my enemy,
the loudest of truths

With death as the arbiter
—to win or to lose

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

If life is
purposed
rich and wide
verse is your reward

A written
portrait
left behind
— called to meet the Lord

(The 1st Book Of Prayers: January, 2024)

Living on the surface,
  dinner’s always served at eight

Living on the surface,
  pride forever casts your fate

Living on the surface,
  things always seem just fine

Living on the surface,
  plays an endless pantomime

Living on the surface,
  the church contains your soul

Living on the surface,
  your religion swallowed whole

Living on the surface,
  things never change that much

Living on the surface,
  you can only look, not touch

Living on the surface,
  the wheel only spins one way

Living on the surface,
  each spoke a mortgage pays

Living on the surface,
  love professes in a vow

Living on the surface,
  real commitment not allowed

Living on the surface,
  new doors stay locked and shut

Living on the surface,
  your reentry self-destructs

Living on the surface,
  your reflection flat and clean

While just below the surface
  —beats the heart of what things mean

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

Ordinary moments
for ordinary people,
living inside the dream

Like comfortable shoes,
a dog that won’t leave you,
treasures to esteem

Ordinary moments
for ordinary people,
the rest to scratch and claw

To get to a place
they’ll never find
—condemned to hem and haw

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2020)

A truck driver passes through
a hole in the sky

His rig self inclusive,
his load staying dry

Eighteen wheels of redemption,
the manifest signed

Delivery as promised
—his docking sublime

(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)