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

Three For Monday

Poetry

 

Neither hobby

nor pastime

its grip ever

grows

 

Its hold on my

heart

through the drought

and the snow

 

Each word

that it sends me

each phrase

to impound

 

And blessing

the silence

my Savior

— resounds

 

(1st Book of Prayers: August, 2025)

 

Divine Wind

 

Shinto

or Buddhist

the Samurai

served

 

Their honor

and legiance

in blood

was preserved

 

The sword

as their mantle

and spiritual

Lord

 

Death

was their preference

dishonor

— abhorred

 

(Shinjuku Museum: October, 2003)

 

 

Betwixt & Between

 

Better or worse

those two oxymorons

Lying in wait

entrapping the weak

 

Lo  and Behold

they claim self-importance

Lo and Behold

thoughts watered and meek

 

Polar extremes

they float barely conscious

To lure you between them

and hold you quite mad

 

Bye after Bye

they muddle your choices

Bye after Bye

— good orphaned with bad

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

 

 

 

Fate’s Niagara

Traveling

alone

indentured

down the river

of time

 

The current

building

and pushing

me

beyond myself

 

My oars

are traded

for one last

look

around the bend

 

The anchor

buried

in tidal sands

of lost

belief

 

My compass

melted

to pay the

toll

of fates arrival

 

With rudder

steady

 as blind

I rush

— into the falls

 

(Front & Erie Ave’s: August, 2025)

The Myth

You don’t have to buy the land

to own the changing landscape

Whose vista priceless yours inside

to live in mortgage free

 

Or fly a rocket toward the sun

to view each day’s horizon

That comes and goes both East and West

in transitory joy

 

You don’t have to buy a car

to travel to tomorrow

New pathways wait beyond conveyance

old footsteps in the sand


Or buy a boat and sail the seas

to hear the ocean’s roar

The transience of each crashing wave

— a gift unwrapping free

 

(Ronald McDonald House: August, 2025)