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

The Eagle Cries

So much lost…

so little gained

Prairies in judgment,

our destiny framed

So little gained

for what we lost

Spirits now orphaned

—tomorrow the cost

(Browning Montana: Blackfoot Reservation – May, 1995).

Grandfather’s Song

Our Father, life giving light,

Redeemer of the plains

Carry our offerings into your heart,

remember, we serve in your name

Spirit Redeemer, the mountains and hills,

distant and barren in lore

The drums have restarted, the chanting begun,

the People despairing no more

(From ‘The Book Of Prayers:’ September, 2020)

Oglala Lament: December, 1890

We cannot eat lies

or feast on empty promises

No more than the bison,

starving in the desert sand

We cannot clothe our children

as we run from the Wasichus

Our teepees torn and freezing

amidst the winter snows

(Pine Ridge South Dakota: Late September, 1994)

Do Over

Revisiting places,

a fresh pair of eyes

All time reimagined

—the how and the why

(Villanova Pennsylvania: September, 2020)

By Any Other Name…

A watch is forever subservient

to time

As each day bows down

to the sun

Remeasuring infinity

from end to end

Orphaned between

—and left to beguile

(Villanova University: August, 2020)

Enemy Within

If conflict is human,

is violence a game

The law of the jungle

by some other name

A mortal endeavor,

to choose when we fight

With nature in judgment

—the wrong from the right

(Wayne Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Whole Punched

Imperfection keeps me fertile,

like the storm upon the plain

Measuring the distance,

of what’s lost and sometimes gained

With my thoughts I mark the hours,

left uncounted looking back

The choices made and prices paid

—endorsing what I lack

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

Not I

If reality is meant to change,

Buddhists may be right

The stops and starts of wasted dreams,

to bury in the night

With truth in self-denial,

our awareness springs and grows

The burdens of all conscious thought,

released—once letting go

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2020)

The Devil’s Ear

Cheating death…

the myth we tell

—when life seems all the more

(Villanova University: August, 2020)

The Threshold

My door is made of solid bronze

but doesn’t have a lock

Patina’d with the stain of blood

from all the battles fought

It swings upon a rusted hinge

and creaks when open wide

To welcome back the future-past

the present safe inside

(Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania: August, 2020)