Something you had never heard…
something you had always known

Something new yet something old…
something borrowed—something owned

(Dreamsleep: November, 2021)

Only through the act
of self-reflection
— is the Creator truly known

(1st Book Of Prayers: January, 2000)

News to confirm,
and not to inform

A slap on the back,
new patrons reborn

To pander or slander,
a partisan line

No minds to be changed
—their chorus reminds

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Money’s most important purchase
—time

(Dreamsleep: December, 2019)

I didn’t forget…
I don’t want to remember
What’s left on the table
where time had command

I didn’t forget…
I don’t want to engender
The past from the future
—the moment at hand

(Dreamsleep: June, 2022)

Bloom where you’re planted
teach what you know
Love who you married
reap what you sow

Question the answers
mean what you say
Turn up the music
—live for today

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

You may not cross the darkness,
the morning light unfound

The promise of tomorrow
—today is shining proud

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2020)

Verse sublimation
skipping the will
Centering the message
critics are chilled

Listening to silence
voices dethroned
Freeing the moment
— tomorrow on loan

(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)

Present Unwrapped

Plan for tomorrow
live for today
the moment redeeming
future caches

Say what you mean
do what you say
the circle enclosing
— truth on display


(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Palace Rules

No worse enemy
than an ex-friend
No better friend
— than an enemy turned

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)




Empty Promises

Caring not much
for what I haven’t seen
Deaf to those voices
still trapped in between

Caring not much
for what I haven’t been
Each promise stays empty
— not kept from within

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)



White Buffalo

Can you …
Know
without thinking  
Win
without beating
See
without judging
Cry
without pain
Speak
without stricture
Come
without staying
Wish
without hoping
Share
without claim
Hear
without language
Curse
without malice
Hunt
without preying
Rule
without reign
Fly
without plumage
Dance
without music
Love
without taking
Die
— without shame

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

At what price, love,
the Angel’s sing

At what price, love,
the joy it brings

At what price, love,
our spirit’s rhyme

At what price, love
—the word sublime

(The Book Of Prayers: September, 2020)

Let’s cut right through
the bombast ...
your camouflage of words
And redefine
the essence ...
of what you’ve never learned
Your double-talk
pontificates ...
to lure and to distract
Whose lies deride
wherein you hide ...
from what the truth exacts

(The New Room: February, 2025)

Detached from my consciousness,
the monster attacked

Feasting first on my memory,
the front then the back

Now living inside me,
all day turns to night

Connection—rejection,
devouring the light

(Radnor Pennsylvania: November, 2020)

How will you ever
afford yourself
the cost
  beyond your means
How will you pay
the price of longing
financing
your dreams
How will you leverage
the cost of hope
interest rates
on fire
How will you love
your heart
in debt
— bankrupting desire


(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

When understanding dies
—blood is all we have

(Dreamsleep: December, 2023)

Be home
when opportunity
knocks
Your door
left open
— lights aglow

(Dreamsleep: September, 2024)

First,
you need to have
something to say

Before,
figuring out
—how to say it

(Dreamsleep: April, 2021)

The freedom to gather
the freedom to wander
—the freedom to disobey

(Dreamsleep: October, 2023)

Voices have a color
like anger or happiness,
shouting from the rainbow
in palettes of sound
Voices have a color
like red, blue, or green,
painting the silence
—in brushstrokes of fire

(Dreamsleep: June, 2021)

Allergic
to the truth
Immune
to virtues glow
One infection
plagues my soul
Whose cure
— my sin forgoes

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

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)

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)

When I was
a young man
I wrote as
a young man

Needing music
and art
to deal
with the times

But now
as an old man
my heart
chases neither

While dwelling
inside
what this moment
— has found

(The New Room: April, 2025)

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’

The woods never yawned
at the end of my stories
The streams never laughed
when I stuttered in haste
The mountains stood firm
when I lost my last footing
The sky understanding
in joy or disgrace

These natural things
forever behold me
Forgiving my weakness
rewarding my nerve
Their arms reaching out
through each change of the season
Pulling me onward
— my voice undeterred

(The New Room: March, 2025)

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)