Our mistakes are paid
in generations of denial
Old footsteps defaulting,
new judgments on file
The future in debt
to invoices past
tomorrow debentured
—arrears mounting fast
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
Our mistakes are paid
in generations of denial
Old footsteps defaulting,
new judgments on file
The future in debt
to invoices past
tomorrow debentured
—arrears mounting fast
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
No one lived more inside the moment,
No one left others more bent to his will,
No one remembered more for the things that he said,
No one more misunderstood while being so loved
—than Muhammad Ali
(Louisville Kentucky: July, 2020)
The greater the love
—the shorter the trip
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
While writing verse from now till then,
its toll I humbly paid
Across a bridge where time had stopped
—the truth to pass each way
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2017)
The sun went down alone tonight,
clouds abandoned
horizon dark
The moon in twilight hesitation,
distance empty
redemption stark
The sun went down and disappeared,
light a memory
warmth to chill
A trail of comets turning back,
morning cancelled
—future killed
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
Passing each other
on the cusp of goodbye
A prayer of forgiveness,
a desperate last sigh
Feeling the emptiness,
hearts gone to stone
Lost in the memory
—of love we had known
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
Wisdom is of greater weight
than valor, pride, or name
It harbors in my deepest thoughts
to rule my souls’ domain
Choices made my kingdom saved
though others yet to see
My heart and mind ensconced as one
—the future mine to free
(Dreamsleep: April, 2022)
Life on the fringes
ignoring your pain
words were my fortress
again and again
Riding the fence line
fixing the wire
judgment expelling
intruders and liars
Distance and loneliness
harken and call
wisdom and certainty
fate to recall
One final time
to emerge from my cave
bandage your heartache
—myself I then save
(The New Room: April, 2022)
A bottle of you was not enough,
I needed the whole case
With every drop and fragrance let,
uncorking my embrace
To deeply breathe your sweet perfume
and drown in nectars dew
I try to sip but lose myself
—inside your vineyard true
(Rosemont Pennsylvania: April, 2022)
Draining all there was to say,
he hemorrhaged one more poem
Last vial of his history,
whose burden now atoned
With final drops to say adieu,
the past and future dead
His last tomorrow here today
—and time no longer bled
(Dreamsleep: April. April 2022)