We’ve allowed our cities

  to turn into jungles

And now act surprised

  when the animals bite and maim

Refrain:

     “The new ‘Heart Of Darkness’

        the hunted unfree

      “Our surprise at their rebellion

        but the blame plain to see

      “A planned isolation

        the haves from have not’s

      “Now a cemetery of dreams

        —for dark progeny to rot”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2015)

Larcenous validator

  of all truth unto itself

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2015)

This prison I’ve created…

  totally self made

This world I’ve evaded

  the fodder I trade

The reward is the punishment

  for not taking part

Old scars not to heal

  as I wait in the dark

The consensus, the polling,

  all truth on the run

Their shadows of misery

  no day in the sun

The price of the membership

  an eternity black

With dealers and charlatans

  all looking back

This prison I’ve created…

  by rejection self made

This world I’ve evaded

  the fodder I trade

No verity in circumstance

  my horse trails the cart

These bars I look out from

   —a last lonely heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2015)

Poetry is the effect

 never the cause

A living remembrance

  —of a legacy spawned

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)

Coffee Shop traveler

Caught

Between the beginning

And the end

Revolving

On a stool

Of broken dreams

Waiting

For a check

That never comes

Holding

A twenty-four hour vigil

For all who pass through

Dreading

A future sign that reads

  —WE’RE CLOSED

(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2015)

Looking out is different

  than looking back

Wishes get hardened

  with a backward glance

All hopes reversing

   with time exposed

The aspirant trail marked

  —by memory’s return

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

The earth cracked in Nepal

  with fire and shame

And thousands lay dead

  on the mountains and plains

Its crust was ripped open

  its heart now exposed

And lives were then claimed

  from a heaven deposed 

The story for mystics

  a legend say some

The day nature demanded

   for things that we’d done

Her climate infected

  her sky ringed in black

Our future as payment

   —with no turning back

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

Are you a sexual being

  if you choose to remain celibate

Are you famous or forgotten

  if you live in a cave

Are you democrat or republican

  if you’re never to vote

Are you black or white

  in the eyes of the blind

Are you young or old

  in the heart of a child

Are you rich or poor

  when everything’s gone

Are you healthy or sick

  when the gallows claim you

Are you guilty or innocent

  when the crime is absolved

Are you friend or foe

  as the last man to fall

Are you committed or unsure

  when the questions retract

Can you find what’s been hidden

  with the object removed

Can you cry out in silence

  when the noise overuns

Can you travel in place

  to unknown destinations

Can you swear to the Lord

  with all prophecy in doubt

Can you still love your children

  when no longer their father

Can you leapfrog all paradox

   —to find your way home

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

Thank you for the confusion Lord,

    thank you for the doubt

Thank you for those unsure moments

   when I could neither whisper nor shout

Thank you for the people Lord

    who loved me or hated in vain

But thank you most for the girl I wed

   —who took away my pain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)

      ‘From The Book Of Prayers’

Do all relationships

 come to an end?

Through death or disorder

 both stranger and friend

What life doesn’t alter

 does dying reclaim?

Alone in the vacuum

 —alone once again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)