Your Voice Explodes

Listen your way out of the problem,

 when language goes awry

 

Each word that’s heard, a fuse unlit,

 whose primer never lies

 

To think the pieces wholly,

 as new structure comes in view

 

With time and space in servitude

 —your voice explodes anew

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

Eight Questions

Will there ever come a time

  when a moment doesn’t matter

 

Will there ever come a date

  when the days won’t connect

 

Will there ever come a phrase

   its words devoid of meaning

 

Will there ever come a song

  whose melody won’t play

 

Have you let what you celebrate

  turn into celebrity

 

Have your messages been transformed

  into a billboard or sign

 

Have you become a lonely caricature

  of a free and lasting symbol

 

Have your words become mere chatter

   —in a pandering for fame

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Unmasqued

Every book has a hundred messages

  trying to get out

 

Every song has ten inside of it

  waiting to sing loud

 

Every painting has a hidden image

   fighting to be shown

 

And every poem has a secret voice

   —dying to be known

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

 

Imagery Forgives

The gravity of freedom,

 the weight of space and time

 

Above the calculated noise,

 the wisdom of the Mime

 

Truth reveals a vacuum,

  where silence waits to live

 

As words describe what minds can’t see

 —and imagery forgives

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

 

‘S’

One letter that follows,

 if added will deem

 

To separate the real 

  from what’s referenced or schemed

 

“Honor from honors,

  Love from loves

 

“Truth from truth’s,

  and Self from selves

 

“God from gods,

  Time from times

 

“Vision from visions,

   and Life from lives”

 

The singular, the plural

 what is, what is not

 

One small trailing letter

 —true meaning leaves off

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2019)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thespian Misstep

There are stages you run to,

  and from stages to hide

 

The performance of a lifetime,

  or the shame that will chide

 

There are actors in character,

   and stand-ins on loan

 

One change in direction

  —and all meaning has flown

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)