The End

 

Death

steals all perspective

no looking forward

or looking back

 

Finality

zero — sum — zero

relativity

lost in its tracks

 

***

 

One Final Question

 

Bending the circle

inward

Pushing dimension

out

 

Finding true value

where logic defies

One final question

— all answers in doubt

 

***

 

The Wages Of Sin

 

When the forest is gone

and you’re sitting dethroned

Where the trees and the animals

once freely roamed

 

Tomorrow comes crashing

through yesterday’s gate

The present transporting

— the guilt and the hate

 

***

 

Sentenced Unnamed

 

Alone with old thoughts

my past on the run

And cornered distraught

with fate zero-sum

 

Secluded sequestered

and sentenced unnamed

The court jester’s chattel

— a minstrel of shame

 

***

 

Bartering Fame

 

Renting the future

in debt to last year

Tomorrow defaulting

unpaid in arrears

 

Pawning each memory

bartering fame

Trading lost moments

— for wishes reclaimed

 

***

 

Set Free

 

Speaking

without words

Painting

without rings

Walking

without steps

Flying

without wings

 

Beathing

without air

Feeling

without touch

Hearing

without sound

Knowing

— without such

 

***

 

The Fire Of Change

 

A path between

conflicting worlds

He walked a road

of hope

The product of a

captive raid

Quanah sought

to cope

 

His spirit caught

between the folds

In buckskin born

of lace

To dance around

the fire of change

Blue eyes

— and painted face

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interstate Packing & Rendering Co.

Mark is dead

he died in a

highspeed

head-on

CRASH

driving a piece

of high-powered

GM

tin

And when

they separated

flesh & blood

from metal & crud

there was nothing

left

of him

***

Two Olives

When I am left alone to ponder

to dream & waft

& my muse to wander

I can come up

with such rational reasons

& excuses for me

being

here

but rush me

with idle & mindless

cocktail chatter

& I might agree

quite pragmatically

that it was a careless error

on the part of a passionate Creator,

so why discuss the matter?

***

Selective Sacrifice

Sorry son

You’ve got to go

Times have changed

Didn’t you know

The beast is hungry

And he must be fed

And boys like you

Must spill the red

It’s your price to pay

To live in this land

Nothing personal, you understand

Here’s your papers, sign them all

You must respond

When Detroit calls

Take up the flag

Take up the gun

Sandstones waiting if you run

I’m sorry son

But you’ve got to go

Times have changed

Didn’t you know?

E.J. Hudak ca. 1969

Calling Your Name

 

Chasing the distance

making love to a memory

Living in the space

between heartache

— and dreams

 

**

 

The Devil’s Alleyway

 

I follow the river

whenever she calls

And answer mountain winds

that blow in the fall

I cross mighty deserts

through cactus and thorns

To brave city streets

— bereft and forlorn

 

**

 

Choice Undetermined

 

Life is about freedom

freedom is about options

Spread out before you

like lines on a map

 

Choice undetermined

awaiting direction

Venturing forward

— wandering back

 

**

 

The Present Surpasses

 

Never embrace

what history rejects

March to the clarion

as virtue begets

 

The present surpasses

what the devil demands

When free will bespoken

— the moment commands

 

(The New Room: May, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye To Love

 

I traipsed through the night

and the morning dew

To open my heart  

stars crossing in queue

 

And left on your doorstep

 blooming anew

A floral surrender

— of loves adieu

 

**

 

 

The Delta’s Gulf

 

Rivers of chaos

flow into oceans

of harmony …

 

Leaving the torrent

in the delta’s gulf

— for peace and depth

 

**

 

New Feelings

 

Poetry defies

explanation

Perhaps its greatest

strength

New feeling’s unfelt

emerging unspelt

 Present  

— in the words

 

**

 

Dark Dismay

 

Spurned and left dejected

his heart in disarray

Falling from love’s precipice

into dark dismay

 

Trapped beneath the anguish

without a last goodbye

Buried in rejected shame

— wishing he could die

 

**

 

Pray

 

Hoping for fame

a slave to its portal

 

Praying for truth

— its blessings immortal

 

**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Closing Act

 

I write every day

on the chance that just one

of my many inscriptions

survive zero-sum

 

To then be remembered

requoted in fact

eternity waiting

— my one closing act

 

**

 

One Truth

 

Truism furrows

reseeded with dread

Buried redundant

 and lost in the bed

Destiny harvests

 but only one truth

Planted inside us

— eternity’s root

 

**

 

Found

 

In search

of tomorrow

Eternity’s

child

 

Lost in

 the maelstrom

Found

— in a smile

 

**

 

Likeness Indentured

 

Lost in the

mirror

Sequestered

alone

 

Reflecting

an image

Contrived

to the bone

 

Silvered

deception

Embedded

profane

 

Likeness

indentured

Ego

— ordained

 

**

 

 

 

In That Moment

 

On ten billion hard drives

encircling the world

Those with computers

can read and unfurl

Sitting here waiting

for them to log on

Alive in that moment

— in verse and in song

 

**

 

All Is Not Lost

 

Once beyond 70

each day becomes ten

An hour a minute

as seconds portend

 

With time running out

last horizon ahead

The sun’s final setting

and future to bed

 

But all is not lost

as you loosen your grip

A flapping is heard

through the darkened abyss

 

With one last look back

to tomorrow goodbye

Two wings reattach

— reborn in the sky

 

**

 

Last Chance

 

Looking up

to the reasons

Looking down

on the why’s

Looking out

through each season

Looking back

in disguise

 

With tired excuses

the joy of no pain

Shunning the Muses

crying out in refrain

“It’s time to jump off

your 9^th life from the queue

Don’t question the cost

— your last chance to be you”

 

**

 

 

Distant Shadows

 

The product

of bad choices

and decisions

Never living

in the darkness

or light

A denizen

of long

 distant shadows

That serve to hide

riddles

— and orphans of sight

 

**

 

Eternity Weds

 

Where senses

reseed

Flowers

regrow

When lovers

remeet

Cupid

rebows

 

With time

giving way

And place

stepping back

Eternity

weds

To moments

— unmatched

 

**

 

9:11

 

9:02

and all

was well

 

9:05

that haunting

bell

 

9:08

and death

arrives

 

9:11

the end

— goodbye

 

**

 

The Red Zone

 

Creating separation

his words

forced an opening

 

Access had been

cleared

meaning secured

 

With daylight surrounding

what before

shrouded darkness

 

Each phrase

in the red zone

— reception assured

 

**