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

My Past Returns

A tamer version of myself,

I rise from day to day

 

Fit for consumption publicly,

in camouflage I play

 

Memories deep, and memories stored,

from oh so long ago

 

Now sleep inside my attic walls,

ephemeral they glow

 

My current frame of reference…

four always two plus two

 

To the mundane I show deference,

and do what others do

 

But late at night I hear those sounds,

now coming down the hall

 

Remembrances to fill my dreams,

my treasure out of pawn

 

With sleep unchained and dreams on fire,

I return to who I am

 

And pray that on tomorrow’s eve

—my past will come again

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

Perdition Assured

You try to mask your given voice

in what’s perverse and then profane

 

But truth speaks only for itself,

your costume tattered—seamstress blamed

 

This great parade, a grand charade,

your song a flattened chord

 

Its final line to seal your fate

—perdition now assured

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2017)

To Guide And Delight

My reality secure

from the attacking winds

 

Sheltered by experience,

a fortress hard won

 

Neither fortune nor danger

can force their way in

 

All entrance is barred,

a mystery respun

 

An Eden contained,

in a legend foretold

 

Where peace and solitude

rekindle the light

 

Possessed of itself,

past-futures on hold

 

Its voice omnipresent

—to guide and delight

 

(Broomall Pennsylvania: August, 2019)

Times Refusal

Youth takes my hand and holds me back,

as old age points the way

 

Unwilling yet to leave this Spring,

as Winter calls my name

 

The image in the mirror fresh,

the one my eyes now see

 

Of Lochinvar and Lancelot,

in dreamlike fantasy

 

The children see me older though,

their children older still

 

My spouse afraid I can’t accept,

what time and seasons will

 

I hold on tight to wings that splay,

o’er fields both green and gold

 

And shun the backstairs of my fate

—refusing to get old

 

(Trumbull Connecticut: February, 2017)