He said what he had to say
to tell the story
He did what he had to do
to rescue time
He paid what he had to pay
to bribe the jailers
He gave what he had to give
—per Gertrude Stein

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

If your heart is open
and true

Your grief is as deep
as your love

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)

Escaping your humanity
—the biggest myth of all

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)

What can’t be forgiven
must be forgotten
Memory the catalyst
for sorrow and pain

The future endemic
its danger befalls us
Salvation escaping
—reluctant to change

(Dreamsleep: January, 2023)

The road to paradise
begins in hell

If you long for peace
—embrace the war

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

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

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

The world is becoming
impossible to govern
Each person that island
Donne warned us about

All sense of belonging
in mirrors bespoken
The strength of shared values
—our vanity flouts

(Dreamsleep: February, 2023)

Musing with Laura,
sleep is denied
Dreams wait unkindled
—darkness on fire

(Dreamsleep: January, 2022)

Each line,
each phrase,
each spoken word,
a step toward…
the One

(The First Book Of Prayers: January, 2022)

Collective self-consciousness,
the well where I draw
old voices and struggles
lie deep in its craw
What’s shared but unstated,
reflexively pawned
to borrow ungiven
the right to what’s wrong
Collective self-consciousness,
polarity’s friend
unspoken meridian
between fact and pretend
To wait in the memory
of what’s yet to come
released by the moment
—humanity won

(The New Room: February, 2022)