I don’t limit who reads my verse,

only who I answer

Each word thick-skinned and armor-clad

all questions zero-sum

(To Nelson Riddle & Frank Sinatra: March, 2021)

I had you

once

before I lost you in a dream

A dream that I woke up

from

where you stayed beyond my grasp

Visiting me each

night

in the bartered hours of my sleep

Holding me beyond

hope

ever cradling my fear

Lending me back to

myself

inside this borrowed joy

Until the dawn reminds

again

—I had you once

(To Laura Nyro: March, 2021)

California loses its finest citizens

…acceptable losses

America loses its drug riddled youth

…acceptable losses

Texas loses its southern border

…acceptable losses

Our manufacturing base auctioned away

…acceptable losses

Native Peoples crying on reservations

…acceptable losses

The electorate abandoned and sold down the drain

…acceptable losses

Our finest and bravest fighting forever wars

…acceptable losses

Our schools now a swamp and our teachers inept

…acceptable losses

We talk to our smart phones and lose all connection

…acceptable losses

Our churches and synagogues bombed and attacked

…acceptable losses

Our freedom of speech now woke and maligned

…acceptable losses

The media profiting from rancor and division

…acceptable losses

Our allies mistrusting and looking askance

…acceptable losses

The dollar a symbol of greed and decay

…acceptable losses

The White House held captive by liars and fools

…acceptable losses

Our forefathers rage in eternities sleep

…acceptable losses

All shared common values rejected forever

…acceptable losses

A world without freedom leading the way

…our future in ashes

(The New Room: March, 2021)

The more I figure something out,

the less the words impact

When trading dreams for cogent schemes,

the verse comes weak and flat

The more I chase the clouds away,

the clearer are the doubts

That misty haze around my gaze,

whose whisper—now a shout

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

Surrender a comfort,

ambition rebuked

Content in my history,

old passions to suit

New mountains stay virgin,

those summits I’ve climbed

All truth in reflection

—whose peace I now find

(The New Room: March, 2021)

Risking it all

in the earthbound sky

Her summit was calling,

the weather defies

An avalanche beckoned,

one Sherpa was lost

A trek through the death zone,

another one gone

The temperature dropping,

the oxygen sparse

My crampons now heavy

and feeling much worse

To retreat or push on,

the danger the same

All hail Sagarmatha

—still calling my name

(Memories Of Nepal: March, 2021)

People tend to respect, respect,

both given and received

The dignity of every life,

in one-on-one reprieves

People tend to share the joy,

while closeting the pain

Humanity as best displayed

—when we are all to gain

(Austin Park: March, 2021)

Hey there, high school teacher,

your talent to rebuff

but when you try imagining

your focus coarse and rough

Your feelings mostly borrowed,

your words ill-gotten gains

your hours spent in false critique

of someone else’s pain

You’re outclassed high-school teacher,

your envy on display

your pedantry a mocking tone

and pretense on parade

(To Wayne Miller: April, 1967)

The horse was pale,

paler than the light off the mountain

that reflected back in memories long abandoned

Its mane was long,

longer than the struggle to save what

fortune had vehemently denied me twice

The time was short,

shorter than the flashes of history

that hoofprints trampled in the disappearing snow

The trail was closing,

closing on one last intrepid promise

crying out for life amidst a stampede of death

(Valley Forge Stables: March, 2021)

The square root of an Epiphany

—is hope

(Villanova Sacristy: March, 2021)