Micromanaged children
in a micromanaged world
The I’s all dotted, T’s all crossed
lost within the swirl
Each cup seemed overflowing
empty spaces void and null
All time and place for life’s surprise
—now victim to its toll
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
Waiting to seize a moment
I knew would never come
The visions passed like storm clouds
deception on the run
The light was all around me
as I stood there in the dark
The shadows of misguided fear
—my path forever marked
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
In the middle of the stream
there rests an island
Where hopes and wishes dock
just out of reach
At the end of every dream
my souls asylum
Each memory harbored safe
—along its beach
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
Hunting the distant banks
Of one lost remembrance
A reckoning came upon me
Excuses left askance
My tracks grew large
As midnight’s table turned
The prey had changed to predator
Of a memory left unlearned
The dark repeating whispers
my soul afraid to tell
Until its breath upon my back
—last step my fear to quell
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
Walking around a
Mythical town
That doesn’t exist
Looking for what
I would never find
I trod those same streets
That I had been down
In my dreams before
The sky barren
Except for the sound
Of the exodus
Of wings
Hovering over people
All moving away
The backs of their heads
The only thing visible
As they marched off
Into the dark
With faces and eyes
Mortgaged…
To pay for all the things
that they would never do
In debt to one last promise
they will never keep
The terms of their indecision
written in the blood of repetition
The movement of the hawk
—another’s wind to blow
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
Just before dawn…
the answers came
And dressed in drag,
they spoke my name
They claimed their place
though none was offered
They stole a space,
their masks on backwards
Just before dawn…
the answers came
Stalking my query
with falsehoods named
But in my wake,
their lies would drown
The truth unanswered
—new questions found
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
The distance between what you feel
and what you write…
—your measure as a Poet
The difference between what you think
and how you act…
—your measure as a Man
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
My pact with God transcends your fear
and all professed religion
The faith I have, the joy I feel
not subject to your laws
My relationship is one on one
whose heart is freely given
To live inside his bounteous light
—resplendent and in awe
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
From ‘The Book Of Prayers’
The pathway to happiness is laughter
—the gateway to laughter is children
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2018)
To meet death head on,
You need but a song
—to carry you on your way
The words needn’t matter
If the melody flatters
—to be hummed by the people who stay
To meet death head on,
You need only one song
—that your children may sing out of tune
Because the years they go fast,
Only memories last
—as May gives up her flowers to June
(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)
