Compelled to fight *****,
in attempts to stay clean
The shadows conscripted,
clandestine and mean
Surprise as an ally,
you stalk and you spy
To vanquish the monster
—declawed and defied

(Villanova Chapel: December, 2021)

This word or that word,
the length of the line

The meter, the rhythm,
to rhyme or not rhyme

Each voice comes unsettled,
new phrases diverse

Is it this way or that way
—when penning the verse

(The New Room: December, 2021)

If the message complex,
the delivery simple

The meaning the magic,
the words zero-sum

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)

The artist may tarnish,
but his art remains clean
His intention stays ageless,
his wishes pristine

Though rust covers over
what’s harder to see
The base is still there
—and the spirit still free

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)

Though happy when wealthy
I’m happy when poor
my happiness fluid
and flows from the core

The riches inside me
their bounty implied
with love as the constant
rejection denied

All queens in their castles
each king on his throne
their gentry in waiting
court jesters bemoan

True joy in the notion
not fashioned by whim
That our souls were imbued
—and sainted within

(The First Book Of Prayers: December, 2021)

High minded but low brow,
and living the contradiction
of a greater truth
I’m caught between transcendence
and pontification
my pockets ladened
with a traitor’s silver
—in search of gold

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)

Faith,
Reasons Achille’s Heel
Dialectic’s
Lord And Master
Philosophy’s Warden
Academic Invader
Time Imploder
Existing Divine

(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)

Lingering…
the shadow of his wings
a constant reminder
that love is a covering
to strip and lay bare
like that final March snow
hiding tulips within

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)

A jazz musician
wonders back
to his days at the keyboard…
each note over practiced
until melody pure
and magic releases

A poet in laurels
wonders back
to his primers and notepads…
each word placed in order
until imagery calls
—and syntax digresses

(Villanova University: October, 2021)

I lived to find silence,
chasing hither and yon
till morning turned inward
reaching deeply beyond

Now firmly embedded
inside of myself
my eyes turned away
—from what’s spoken unfelt

(Dreamsleep: October, 2021)