Love’s Goodbye

 

Those who ask

no questions

offer the greatest

comfort

 

Those who speak

inscriptive

tell the biggest

lies

 

Those who pledge

no fealty

to themselves

dishonor

 

Those who bear

no greetings

doomed to love’s

— goodbye

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

Misfortune Contrives

 

It’s in fashion

to wear

your heart

on your sleeve

 

A French poet

alarmed

that love may

deceive

 

Bleeding a wound

that

misfortune

contrives

 

Alone

in deception

your love

— circumcised  

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

Epiphany Of Time

 

Once

you wrap

all existence

into this moment

 

You will

understand the

difference between life

— and its living

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

Flying above

the syntax

grammarians 

far below

 

Lost in paradigms

yet to form

Hermes to

forego

 

You consummate

your writing

as you reach that

final rung

 

The lines you wrote

by faith alone

sing out now

zero-sum

 

Your editor

rejected

your publisher

is spurned

 

The words demand

a new command

of what you’re still

— to learn

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

 

You want their

affection

but your words

to disdain

 

I voted for you

thrice

and would do so

again

 

But the many

unsold

who vote

with their heart

 

Abandon you now

as your

ego

cavorts

 

Assuming

your schtick

is attractive

to all

 

You strut like

the ‘Emperor’

and naked

befall

 

Overlooking

the obvious

what the simplest

man knows

 

To be liked

is a mandate

and lost

— in your show

 

(Sunday Morning New Shows: February, 2026)

The Artist

who scares you

the one you should

mime

 

And step

in his shoes

to see

what you’ll find

 

The Artist

who threatens

your soul’s

status quo

 

The one to

embrace

as you try

— to ‘pass go’

 

(The New Room: January, 2026) O/L 2-1-2026

 

 

When The Dust Settles

 

To be remembered

— period end

 

(The New Room: January, 2026) O/L 2-1-2026

 

 

First Things First

 

Keep your words close

— but your feelings closer

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

From Afar …

 

Absence severs

as well as death

With haunted longing

— and deep regret

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

 

Beyond Sound

 

A canon fire’s

a man is deafened

 

Trapped in memory

— the music plays

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

Until Light

 

Everywhere

there’s shadows

the trick

is to outrun them

 

They’re sure to place

their dark embrace

till light receives

— its summons

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

Cowboy Up

 

Atop the bull

eight-seconds loom

The crowd and lights

go silent

 

The chute is opened

his eyes enraged

all life

— within this moment

 

(PBR Finals: Las Vegas: October, 2025)

 

 

The Sweetest Light

 

Make no contract

with time

It heeds

no ethic

 

Born in chains

to die

its shackled lock

defies

 

The truth alone

wears well

when stating its

dependence

 

Life looking

poorest

when it teases from

the richest state

 

The blamer finds

the greatest fault

with paradise

approaching

 

Life near the bone

the sweetest light

that hides

— within the dark

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

 

The Reset

 

To learn

is not to know

To listen

not to hear

To look

is not to see

To touch

is not to feel

 

To wish

is not to hope

To hunger

not to yearn

To speak

is not to say

To like

— is not to love

 

(The First Book Of Prayers: January, 2026)

 

 

 

My Legacy

 

The child

of my

captivity

 

The heir

to my

dissent

 

A legacy

of stone

and bars

 

That will’s

my life’s

— portent

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

 

 

One Day Soon

 

Each day without

disaster

a blessing on

the shelf

 

The fated winds

now still and calm

with gentle breezes

felt

 

But one day soon

it reckons

to prey upon

your soul

 

As fortune turns

against the tide

to tally

— nature’s toll

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

The Glory

 

The shadow of truth

is vast

The glimmer of hope

sublime

The future of life

is death

The glory of fate

— divine

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

Intention makes

the student

Reflection makes

the master

Their difference in

the question

A lifetime takes

— to answer

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

Determine who

the crime will profit

and you will find

your man

 

Fortune baits

perdition’s wolf

with larceny

in hand

 

Behind this world’s

ill-gotten gains

and lurking

deep within

 

There hides the culprit

long surmised

who wears the mark

— of sin

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

Take the blue pill

and set your watch

Tell her it’s coming

libido recaught

(but) 

Where is the magic

the moment belied

The thrill of the chase

— and hearing her sigh

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2026)

Escape

for those in bondage

A vise

to break the chains

Its promise

 burns the master

Whose riff

to light the flames

 

To dance

the steps of freedom

And leave

indentured rage

To heal

those lost and wanton

The Blues

— on center stage

 

(Kingston Mines Chicago: January, 2026)

Blues Poem # 21  

I climbed in bed

to wait for death

the past

a fleeting memory

I pled the case

in my defense

whose verdict

found me guilty

My sentence cast

without appeal

a victim of

my trials

Alone to die

in hope belied

my condemnation

— final

 

(The New Room: January, 2026)