Does your past
inhibit the meaning

Does a smile work
to cover your pain

Does today lie in wait
for tomorrow

Your messages cleft,
forever the same

Do you write before feelings
have woken

The letters pretty, in cursive
review

When your words leave the pulpit
unspoken

Do you retreat to the very
last pew

Taking refuge,
as twilight approaches

All windows shuttered,
any truth to mime

Those orphaned moments
to hold you captive

And a victim
—the prisoner of time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Drifting into the past,
tomorrow slipped further away

Drifting into the past,
my writing had little to say

Drifting into the past,
the moments became moments no more

Drifting into the past
—being no longer certain or sure

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Does your past
inhibit the meaning

Does a smile work
to cover your pain

Does today lie in wait
for tomorrow

Your messages cleft,
forever the same

Do you write before feelings
have woken

The letters pretty, in cursive
review

When your words leave the pulpit
unspoken

Do you retreat to the very
last pew

Taking refuge,
as twilight approaches

All windows shuttered,
any truth to mime

Those orphaned moments
to hold you captive

And a victim
—the prisoner of time

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

Will you live with me forever
will you scintillate my dreams
Holding title to my wishes
the island in my stream

Will you live with me forever
in a fantasy so wild
Making love to the hereafter
—our one and only child

(The New Room: March, 2023)

From deep in the current it comes out of the river…
the Mississippi
the Mersey
Blue Danube
and Nile  

The music living in the spirit of its flow…
the Blues
the Classics
the Tribal
and Jazz

Its waters a baptism for the wandering soul…
listening
searching
hoping
and praying

Finding ourselves in the rhythm of its passing…
heartened
enlightened
rebirthed
and set free

(Cairo Illinois: September, 2007)

We’ve all been crippled
in different ways
To hobble or stumble
alone in our pain
No one is reprieved
as years take their toll
Till that day we return
one body — one soul

(1st Book Of Prayers: March, 2024)

To stand in
Your shadow
its welcoming rim
Surrounding
my calling
to lead me within
Your aura
completes me
and lights up my way
To follow
undaunted
—Your love on display

(1st Book Of Prayers: April, 2024)

“Indians have a saying,” she said
from across the fire…

“Until you have heard the roar
of the bear
—you will not know its heart”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
From My Novel: ‘Revenge Along The War Trail’

Do nothings
wth tenure
poseurs sublime

Their barrels
sit empty
coated
with lime

The space
they take up
much better off
closed

For those
they have
poisoned
— Hades to know  

(Haverford College: April, 2024)

I hate Periods and like most Commas,
a Full Stop turns me off

Quotation Marks I can endure,
but Semi-colons not

I love a good Exclamation Point,
all Question Marks so so

But my favorite is the Em Dash
—replacing most of those

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

Trapped in politics
—victims we remain

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)

From the fire, from the embers
of his bungalow
he sears,
the nights latest victim
—new ash in the wind

(Dreamsleep: August, 2021)

Why would it matter,
why would you care

Voices becalming,
breathless unpaired

Freeing the Dharma,
released in the air

Transcending today
—immortality shared

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2020)

Treat someone wrongly
maybe survive
Treat them as stupid
bees leave the hive
Stinger’s protruding
vitals exposed
Phylaxis laid bare
—venom explodes

(The New Room: December, 2023)

What, who, or where
the sages portend

What, who, or where
the shamans belie

What, who, or where
the scholars defend

What, who, or where
—not questioning why

(Dreamsleep: November, 2022)

Not an academic
Poet
Not a tenement
Poet
Not a beat or a blues
or a church Poet
Not a famous or infamous
or celebrity Poet
Not an Irish or Basque
or Welsh Poet

Not a formal
Poet
Not a casual
Poet
Not the kind that takes
to the stage Poet
Not a tenured or membered
or club Poet
Not a for profit or glory
or fame Poet

… just a Poet

(The County Line: April, 2024)

The fleeting comfort of her silence,
rocking his troubles to sleep
All noise has abated, the bats have gone out
—till dawn o’er the belfry to greet

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)

A hole that can’t be filled
an ocean that can’t be crossed
a phrase that can’t be spun
inhaling your exhaust
The measure off the scale
the truant thrice reclassed
the memory twice forgotten
the die that’s never cast
A spider web unwoven
a future distant past
a God beyond religion
a sail without its mast
“To Trip The Light Fantastic”
to burn the bridge uncrossed
to fasten moments end to end
—to find what time has lost

(The New Room: February, 2022)

For those who love the concept of power,
but hate its execution

A raging tiger has just left its cage
—to feed on your confusion

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

The Gypsy jumped from car to car,
never getting off the train

In Davenport through morning fog,
the old town looked the same

The prairies waited in the dark,
the Rockies far beyond

In Denver’s wind he heard the words
to an oft-forgotten psalm

The engine roared, the distance called,
the rails went on and on

The desert lit the night on fire,
to burn the right from wrong

A Reno stop to take on water,
drowning in the past

Through farms and fields and countryside,
to Stockton now at last

His feet stepped down to touch the earth,
and genuflect once more

Before reboarding, headed East
—perdition his true lord

(Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania: April, 2020)

Everyone else has gotten off,
how long am I to stay?

The train unstationed, tender gone,
its engine writhed in pain

Did I miss my stop on the journey down?
“an express” the porter screamed

All light afire, ticket burnt
—satanic nightmare dreamed

(Drexel University: February, 2020)

Geometrically
Progressing
Each Day
Valued more
The closer
The end
The sweeter
The lure  

(Dreamsleep: November, 2023)

Dimension,
Stretching itself
Reaching the unknown
Feeling what can’t be felt
Unnumbered
Not counted or named
Para-atomic
Time abandoned
Intention free
Returning without
Returning within,
Dimension

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)

What purpose Poetry,
if not to transcend

The mundane, the broken,
those roads with no end

With every feeling
new words are reborn

To speak to Creation
—and live readorned

(The New Room: January, 2021)

Why would I question,
why would I care

Why would I venture,
why would I dare

Why would I set out
for places unknown

If not to find something
—my life has unshown

(Dreamsleep: October, 2020)

Foothills

The physics
of metaphysics …
the part I like the best

Where symbols yearn
as planets turn
—new twigs to build the nest

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)




A Picture

Imagery and symbols
are worth a thousand words
Why poetry is lauded
but prose routinely heard

To paint each word intrinsic
as dawn brush strokes the day
Each verse leaves time uncanvassed
—mortality at bay

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)


To Heaven And Back

If birds couldn’t fly
they wouldn’t sing
The world would stop spinning
and bells wouldn’t ring

Wings are their freedom
the sky their excuse
To heaven and back
—all hearts are infused

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)


The Road Less Traveled

Does the truth
of the world
lie in common
experience

Mathematics
and philosophy
forever
say no

Innovation
and discovery
fight shared
understanding

One should always
be wary
or forever
—forgo

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)


Bearing False Witness

Death by omission
death by nature
Where evil misleads
—deception grows

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)




Lock Step

Poets
miming
poets
The blind
leading
the blind
Mud
stirring up
from the bottom
Concealing
a likeness
—in kind

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)


****** Dreams

Creating something
as yet undiscovered
Consciousness battles
—as memory attacks

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

Are you a servant
to creation’s lord,
every word indentured trope

In towers of despair
each phrase a step
—on the stairs to love and hope

(The New Room: March, 2021)

You can’t infringe on greatness
it always needs its space

To stand apart and stand alone
an island in its place

You can’t lip sync a legend
the lyrics never come

Whose price is paid in distance laid
—all glory zero sum

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

A broken wing
in death’s chicane
Where pigeons fall
unending pain

A blinded flock
to circle down
As fangs await
both wolves and hounds

While far above
a falcon stalks
Vision prescient
it never balks

A broken wing
once clipped in fear
the raptors chase
—with canids near

(The New Room: October, 2023)

Rays Of Light

Information contextual
never absolute
Naked in isolation
relative and moot

Inspiration celestial
gifted from the throne
Sending rays to light the dark
— truth to stand alone

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Science

One step
forward
two steps back

Look around
you
see the facts

Sky scraped
cities
health care gods

Obese
on drugs
gender fog

Ghetto
masters
children ******

War
a plaything
religion owned

Information
but a mask
to hide us from the truth

DNA
and quantum theory
— kills the Golden Goose

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Dreamsleep

No words into boxes
all Muses set free
Not quatrain or sonnet
or limerick for me
The feeling’s unleashing
the verse as decreed
Whose words birth inside me
— unspoken in dreams

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)


Feelings

They come to
me vacant

No plans
to deceive

In silence
they wait

My words
— to conceive

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Embrace your entitlement
to thrive
Hell freezing over
the moment alive

Protect what’s inside
of your heart
Transcendence embodied
— Divine from the start

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Have I finally truly said it all
running out of words
Thoughts and feelings too remote
my pen a blunted sword

The doors revolve and seasons change
as Winter calls my name
Whose grammar laced with period ends
and fingers stricken lame

A final time my eyes shut tight
to fall into a dream
Just one more word—new phrase to grace
reaching for the cream

(Villanova University: July, 2022)

Skeletons rule the attic,
rooks have left the board
emptiness I can’t explain,
darkness untoward

Lapses in my memory,
lyrics left unsung
chasing all those things I’m not,
orphan on the run

Monday turns to Thursday,
Tuesday, Wednesday lost
time on fire, burning fast,
sanity the cost

One last chance for freedom,
pathway to the cliff
to jump into my deepest fear
—or sink in this abyss

(The New Room: February, 2022)