Montagues & Capulets

 

The trouble

with me

is you

 

The trouble

with you

is us

 

The trouble

with us

is them

 

The trouble

with them

—  is me

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

  

The Inkwell

 

Arrogant enough

to believe in his words

begging to be heard

 

Committed enough

to run from the crowd

 couplets crying loud

 

Living each phrase

in debt to each thought

the moment duly caught

 

His pen is refilled

the inkwell unmired  

— new verses to aspire

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

  

Indentured

 

Beyond

the critics

Beyond

the pundits

Beyond

agenda

— beyond the hype

 

A poet

lives

Without

pretension

Indentured

to the truth

— and light

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

Cracks Of Wonder

 

Some situations

embraced by instinct

When reason is powerless

to explain

 

All words fall useless

in cracks of wonder

Where prescience waits

— our hearts to claim

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

Where Fortune Smiles

 

You get one chance

to make it right

to capture sound

and bottle sight

 

One chance alone

is all you’re willed

to box the moment

time distilled

 

You get one chance

to make your mark

to chase the demon

from the dark

 

One chance alone

if fortune smiles

to etch your name

— where memory files

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Kerouac Calls

 

Hitchhiking

my way

into

tomorrow

 

My thumb

in the present

My heart

— in the wind

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

I remember

mission children

before

the devils came

 

I remember

music and laughter

before

that night of flames

 

I remember

a priest who pleaded

before

they took his hair

 

I remember

a maiden girl

before

her screams despaired

 

I remember

a wind that blew

before

the Hades storm

 

And I remember

a moon that cried

before

 that blood-soaked morn

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

Still Foreign

 

No matter

how much love

is present

My feelings

truant reign

 

The ghost

inside me

will not leave

Inducing

love’s disdain

 

All joy

a vagrant

along the tracks

where distance

holds me sway

 

And love

still foreign

wherein I roam

and where

— I’m doomed to stay

 

(The New Room: February, 2026) 

 

 

 

Blowback

 

Judge

lest thee

be judged

 

Harm

lest thee

be harmed

 

Steal

lest thee

be robbed

 

Kill

lest thee

— be dead

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026) 

 

 

Somewhere In The Queue

 

We’re all going

to die

Only the order

— stays undetermined

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026) 

 

Above & Beyond

 

Fire cannot

burn

Nor water

drown

The truth

at its essence

Immortal

— resounds

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026) 

 

 

Owning The Moment

 

Pain on the front side

healing out back

Earning each scar

that my memory attacks

 

Writing uncensored

no words in arrears

Owning the moment

— unburdened by fear

 

(The New Room: February, 2026) 

Inherited

 severance

The saddest

probate

A wasteland

of love

A garden

of hate

 

A dark

segregation

Divorced

in our bane  

To separately

 covet

What little

— remains

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

I met her

on the boardwalk ramp

and said …

“You Have Nice Eyes”

 

The Gypsy Lady

fixed her gaze

my hand in hers

replied …

 

“White hates black

and black hates white

their fear right now

forbids

 

“Division preys

to rule the land

fate drifting

on the skids

 

“But just remember

this one thing

if we are

to survive

 

“Coffee colored kids

will reign

to save our souls

— demise”

 

(Haverford College: February, 2026)

The flip side

of dimension

the angle

of a curve

The silence of  

 a shouting mute

the last

unfeeling nerve

 

Description

serves in

lonely cells

its commutation stark

Where sentenced

and imprisoned grooms

forever

— wed the dark

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

Adroitness

remits

what curiosity

requires

Professing

allegiance

through tundra

and fire

 

The rabbits

two exits

protecting

its lair

Ensuring

tomorrow

when trapped

— au contraire

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

The image you left us

still burns in the sand

Through prairies and rivers

your spirit expands

 

With always a smile

what had to be done

You did with a flourish

a true Texas son

 

My hopes they rode with you

as you ventured North

All foes you enveloped

their fates in due course

 

And only one cowboy

was struck with your brand

but millions of dreamers

— still wait your command

 

(To Robert Duvall (Gus): February, 2026)

New Paradigms

 

Approaching

the limits

of human

performance

 

The body

conscripted

with flesh

as the martyr

 

New ‘paradigms’

looming

bionics

invade

 

The mind

 a dark trainer

whose death sentence

— willed

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Illumination

 

All living

things

gravitate

toward light

 

Where painters

and poets

bask

in delight

 

Illumined

in freedom

the darkness

confined

 

To others

not searching

by shadows

— defined

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Until Trapped

 

In spaces confined

people begin to withdraw

deeply

inside themselves

In elevators

and crowded halls

their psyche constricts

their image quelled

As victims of space

their mood takes on

the confines of

their station

Where smaller and smaller

they become

trapped

— in isolation

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Feelings Beckon

 

I lost

my mind

and found

my heart

 

Perception

orphaned

the music

starts

 

All thoughts

abandoned

conceptual

ire

 

As feelings

beckon

with joy

— on fire

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Trapped In Wonder

 

More a

question

than it is

an answer

 

Life

when uncertain

its magic

— flowers

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Light To Dark

 

Virtues

become crimes

— by exaggeration

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Crossing Over

 

“What in truth

great terror be death

one last step

awaiting unblessed

Forever as silence

behests

crossing over

— eternity rests”

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Stigmata

 

Moral wounds

may be hidden

— but they never close

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Deep Within

 

Always charging

never quelled

Deep within

— the heart foretells

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

The ‘Player’

 

To get her  

to at least

give him her number

he told her …

“You Have Dakota Fannings Eyes”

 

Finally

she said back

what surprised

him to hear …

‘You’re the kind of man I’ve Always Despised’

 

Her number

unwritten

and intent

more than clear

‘Again He Beseeched And Contrived’

 

And never

redundant

she looked

at him plain

‘With The Fury Of Hate In Her Eyes’

 

(The New Room: February, 2026)

 

Against The Wind

 

What looked like a win

was a major league loss

I tried to escape

but delusion the cost

 

Rebelling against them

I thought I was free

But using old tactics

their hold still on me

 

From first day to last

in darkness and light

Their voices unsilenced

their grip ever tight

 

Despite my best efforts

heredity sways

Our schism a fantasy

— that hovers and preys

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)

 

 

I pass through

each website

belonging to none

The bards

of the first

to the next unbecome

Opinions

are chanted

as ego’s cavort

The green-eyed

monster

— where prescience holds court

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2026)