Author: Kurt Philip Behm

I am a lifelong author with 21 books published to date—one best seller. Much of my writing is about the deception of time and its many disguises. My Poetry 'An Anthology Of Perception,' is now available in four volumes. In addition I have a 175 page Poem 'After Midnight,' that was published in 2014. My Historical Fiction series, 'The Sword Of Ichiban' is now up to volume 8 which is being published this Spring ... Vol #1- The Sword Of Ichiban Vol #2- Darkening Sun Vol #3- Revenge Along The War Trail Vol #4- Death From The Sky Vol #5- Jumping Into the Darkness Vol #6- The Fall City Mandate. Vol #7- Approaching Storm Vol #8- Brothers In Blood One autobiographical novel, 'The Death Of The Playground' a Best Seller, published in 2007. One travel novel, 'Searching For Crazy Horse,' published in 2005, recapping my forty years of motorcycle touring in the American Rocky Mountain West. I have written one Children's Book, 'Sammy & Bumpers' that was published in 2016. All of my books are available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and better Book Stores world wide. Kurt Philip Behm

Aeternum

Art bridges the distance

between forever

and today

Crossing o’er the cosmos

of eternity

—relayed

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

Katharine The Great

Bigger than every stage

she commanded

Greater than the sum

of her parts

Braver than the men

who adored her

Sharper than the image

—that endures

(Tribute To Hepburn-Bryn Mawr College: May, 2023)

Jewels Of Fire

The other side

of knowing

A padlocked world

of dreams

Whose key is tattooed

on my hope

Till opened

unredeemed

A treasure chest

of wisdom

Whose prescience

zero sum

Instinct crowned

in jewels of fire

Burning

—to become

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

The Farce Goes On

Makeup never hides the truth

the camera sees it all

Sharply focused through the pain

each mask a futile pall

As clowns embrace the actor’s fears

in painted frozen smiles

The farce goes on in word and song

—a masquerades denial

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

Madame

She was often better

but never good

Her virtue tainted

misunderstood

Her nights a mystery

each day in shame

The rumors spreading

each one to blame

The men who knew her

that man who left

Impassioned bookends

of time bereft

She was often better

yet often worse

Each day repeating

—tomorrow’s curse

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

Uncharted

Let the moment continue

there’s no peace to make

no past to refight

or future at stake

Uncharted not lost

forever inbound

the instant repeating

—with memory refound

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

So Close — So Far

My ambitions elitist

reality bourgeois

My palate continental

taste buds still raw

My ambition ennobled

vocation unhailed

My reality sordid

—future travailed

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

3 Card Monte

Gather your false prophets

and sycophants

Bury your heads

in the deepest sand

Tell the same lies

as you sing to the choir

Slave to the mirror

—and sleight of hand

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)

The Dance

He had more past

than future

his rope was

getting thin

The choices made

the debts he paid

lost time

the biggest sin

His memory out

for barter

to change that

yet to come

For one last chance

to do the dance

whose music

—zero sum

(The New Room: May, 2023)

Sinking To Find

In search of my shadow

in the torrent of kings

I wade through the current

of all other things

Alone treading water

my essence bemired

This river a dungeon

of banished desire

I reach out to grab it

it motions away

To outline my image

while swirling at bay

And not till I’m sinking

does it buoy my form

To chase was my folly

—now rescued reborn

(Dreamsleep: May, 2023)