If we can’t tell stories
about our past
—the future stays untold

If judged by standards
out of time
—the fault beyond control

Our history always
both good and bad
—correction on the rise

What happened, happened,
as time rolls on
—and yesterday reminds

(Independence Square Philadelphia: March, 2021)

Degrees of freedom...
a chance for control

The will to measure
—what choices extoll

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

The naive garden
is filled with snakes
To slither and nest
—where ignorance waits

(Dreamsleep: March, 2023)

‘Normalcy’
has its
depression
built in

Mundane
and ill formed
life hiding
from sin

Each day
like the former
unseasoned
and bland

With time
in the freezer
hope frozen
— and canned

(The New Room: April, 2025)

You have to be immortal
to placate the gods

Time reaffirming
all memory of

Creation, destruction,
eternity looms

For those who believe
—appeasement exhumes

(Calvary Cemetery: October, 2020)

Some poems are true monuments,
some lower to the ground

Some verse is loaded, stacked, and piled,
some stored away till found

A phrasing here, a meaning there,
now where to put it all

As voices cry within the womb
—unborn, but still they call

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Your page now short on substance,
yet colorful the rhyme

The words used in abundance,
where lesser might define

Intention slave to beauty,
all meaning zero sum

Pageantry lost in the wind
  —your blood left still to run

(Grantham New Hampshire: February, 2017)

Life abhors a vacuum,
writing hates it too

So many questions, so much space,
meat to fill the stew

Emptiness is calling,
for words to write the wrongs

Where idle minds take up the space
—left vacant for too long

(Austin Park: February, 2021)

Science
has brought
us closer
to the edge of our oblivion
Nuclear fission
angel dust
processed foods
and smog
Two steps forward
ten steps back
ennobling every ***** fact
as children choke and cry
There’s one award
the Swede’s leave out
that’s missing
on their dais
The Nobel Prize
for mass destruction
as progress masquerades
— unchecked

(Sweden: May, 2008)

Vacuous dreams
and stolen joy

Shadows at dawn,
lost girls and boys

Promises broken,
tears deprived

Light excepted
—truth denied

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

In judgment we are sentenced…
its verdict zero-sum

(The New Room: November, 2021)

Within this structure,
my words remain
Each line a fortress,
as thoughts refrain

The ramparts solid,
its moat retracts
All quivers loaded,
as doubt attacks

The enemy constant,
assault on fire
What darkness births,
one phrase retires

The battle spoken
upon the wind
My legend written
—still safe within

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)

Safe place for the meaning — in couplets of rhyme
the words taking shelter in moments sublime

Their message unfurling — new harbor in sight
the tempest becalming in lines of delight


(Dreamsleep: April, 2025)

My slanguage
keeps the fire hot
my feet against the coals

My slanguage
what the critics hate
new venom to extol

My slanguage
whether read or sung
its message still the same

My slanguage
seeding my rebirth
— lost within the rain

(Dreamsleep: November, 2024)

A new beginning
begins the end
A different octave
whose voice portends

The circle squares
as angles form
escape your memory
salvation born

A new beginning
first and last
Once you enter
the past is past

All colors exit
as black meets white
gray indifference
to lace the night

A new beginning
storms on fire
ice is raging
polar spires

Eight directions
up is down
Buried mantra
—transcendence found

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

Markets are strong
as bridges crumble

Dividends fly
while highways collapse

Earnings per share
define false adoration

Gift wrapping burns
—on the last empty box

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2020)

Words serve the meaning
and not the form
To awaken the morning
in spirit reborn

Each phrase as created
each couplet of verse
In praise of itself
—the structure to curse

(Dreamsleep: June, 2023)

The shorter the distance
between concept and words
The deeper the impact
—of what’s to be heard

(Dreamsleep: September, 2022)

You can’t burn out
if not on fire
You can’t be hurt
without desire
You can’t be found
if never lost
You’ll never melt
without a frost
Your memory void
without a thought
You’re never freed
if never caught
You’ll never plant
without a seed
You need the words
to have a creed
The past depends
on present spent
The pawn shop thrives
on items lent
The morning lost
without the night
The truth abeyant
—wrong or right

(The New Room: July, 2022)

Often, I have to challenge the words,
after they’re written

Often, I struggle to understand,
what the Muse is trying to say

Often, I have to cede the ground,
that buttresses my thinking

Often, the voices calling out
—are strangers to my ear

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2020)

Gentle as a razor,
her words cutting deep
Robbing tomorrow
of yesterday’s sleep
Her voice rising sharply
to greet the new pain
A bleeding Madonna
—in strawberry rain

(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)

Turn out those horses
that came back without me

Honor their service
that carried me on

Turn out those horses
that strut in my absence

Dusted in silver
—my honor is strong

(Las Vegas: January, 2022)

Leaky Poets
dripping Prose
Words secreted
left unchose

Wanton memories
twisted lies
Moment’s bartered
naked I’s

Love on steroids
feelings burn
Swelling heartache
pages turn

New tomorrow
old reprise
Armageddon
death’s surprise

One more time
into the breach
Last wave ceding
from the beach

Leaky Poets
undisclosed
One word answer
—no one knows

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

When you spit
into the face
of destiny
— eternity watches

(Dreamsleep: July, 2024)

In a bullpen of violence
—throw the first pitch

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)

A dark cloud swept o’er me today,
and visited but couldn’t stay

It tried to blow my voice away,
but stronger winds then had their say

Poisoning rains lay overhead,
whose black veil lifts in mornings glow

Their invocation scoffed again
—by everything Mariah knows

(University Of Pennsylvania Hospital: April, 2020)
‘Thank You Drs. Torp, Thaler & Weinstein’

“Cowardice often hides behind
   intelligence

“Until the strong winds of conviction
   —blow it away.”

(Quote From My New Novel: Sold Out, February, 2020)

I refuse to remember
what I can never forget

Words lost to my memory,
lined deep with regret

The faster I write,
the deeper I hide

A reckoning hovers
—forgiveness denied

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

If absurdity
is the only reality

Time is the new servant
—to what lies within

(Dreamsleep: October, 2019)

You know it’s the end
when shadows abandon

Memory fades
as light is recalled

No longer master,
time is imploding

Wishes undreamed
—then nothing at all

(The New Room: April, 2021)

The Ocean has no conscience,
no judgment, joy, or hate

She dances with you to her beat
in stirring waves of fate

With reverence you may enter
all blessings on the day

But just one slip and she reminds
what ancient mariners say…

“Red sky at morning, sailors take warning
red sky at night, sailors delight”

Her message best taken when early to bed
life in the balance, her power to dread

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: June, 2022)

Twilight beckons
a wavering moon
Chasing the sunset
from darkening skies

Clouded reminder
renewal has come
Birthing new shadows
in fresh summer rain

(Dreamsleep: May, 2022)