To be judged

not as good

as his parents

To be known

for the things

he was not

His legacy

paled

in the afternoon light

With a name

that misfortune

— had wrought

(The New Room: September, 2026)

The power of poetry

the world is our Muse

No part unimportant

no win and no lose

Alive and unending

she waits to be born

Inside what we’ve written

with joy — and forlorn

From Everest to Mariannas

her messages lie

Above and below us

to welcome inside

Reborn with each musing

her power to save

inside every passage

— from birth to the grave

(The New Room: September, 2026)

Our truth

a painful fusion

Without it

but illusion

Tatanka

flees the mighty grass

Our future

— in the past

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: September, 2026)

I never thought

I would get this old

I never thought

I would feel this cold

I never thought

 that my sight would fail

I never thought

I would lose the trail

I never thought

that my friends would die

I never thought

that the truth could lie

I never thought

that the time would come

I never thought

— that my race had run

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

Emily was born

inside of a poem

Without the belabor

of words in her knowing

Ending each lyric

before it began

No start and no finish

— in place where she ran

(Amherst Massachusetts: September, 2026)

Dreams

camouflage time

in the magic

of sleep

Taking

us inward

with messages

deep

Dreams

are a bridge

crossing

into the light

Where words

become tokens

of eternal

— delight

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

Without darkness

sunlight

would be hard

to see

The first

casualty

of blindness

is truth

Knowledge

lacking reference

an egg

that won’t hatch

As wasted

on the folly

of the young

— is youth

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

The Dying Trance

A soul will rot

in boredom

The spirits

dying trance

Once disengaged

all feelings fade

without

— a sideward glance

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

What Eyes Miss

Children

cross those barriers

that adult’s

hide behind

Wading

into no man’s land

instinctively

alive

Children

cast fate to the wind

without

a second thought

Seeing

what our eyes will miss

in strictures

— we’ve been taught

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

Voices

Alive

no longer conscious

my words

survive the grave

When read aloud

to lift my shroud

in voices

— time belayed

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

Ask

better questions

Tell

better lies

Marry

the moment

Divorcing

the time

Search

for new meaning

That cross

on the hill

Dream

in the daylight

Forever

— until

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)

A human life

is given free

and taken

without payment

The times

 between

to lend and borrow

— till fate reclaims your soul

(Dreamsleep: September, 2026)