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

Redemption Near

Did you waste your life

  just making money

 

Did you eat the bread

  and not the honey

 

Did you sell your soul

  as your children watched

 

Was your heart left cold

  in a tinderbox

 

Were your excuses rich

  and your reasons poor

 

Did you wake up full

  and still ask for more

 

Were your blessings shunned

  as you scratched and clawed

 

Saying no harm done

  “I never broke the law”

 

Were you teeth all straightened

  and your motives bent

 

Were your eyes detached

  from what heaven sent

 

Were your memories lost

  in some dead refrain

 

As a lonely footnote

  to another’s name

 

If you had one chance

  to re-right these wrongs

 

Would you hide in silence

  or break out in song

 

With your soul imprisoned

  the choice is clear

 

All joy awaits

 —redemption near

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

The Music Stops

The jaws sing

As the drip, drip, drip,

Of the petroleum chorus

Dances across

The inverted aluminum

And the hissing starts

And the hissing stays

Its smell a warning

A final omen

Like the last rose

Of summer

Or the fragrance she wore

For that final goodbye

The teeth tear inward

Like the regret for today

And the regret for yesterday

And the lament for tomorrow

Its promise broken

And your khakis red

And baptized

A stigmata

To self infliction

As the music plays constant

And the rushing you feel

An emptying of sorrow

Onto the crushed ceiling

Of a dream in reverse

Of all life in reverse

Until two arms grab you

And you fall from the sky

And you fall from the sky

Waiting

For the ground

To coronate the outcome

And for one more answer

To a ‘why’ unquestioned

And to love you one more time

But the lights are now dim

And the voices muffled

As an organ can be heard

And store bought flowers smelled

And an old woman cries…

As a young woman cries…

And a stranger pronounces

What you feared the most

They didn’t know you

And couldn’t know you

The exit sign flashing

But there is no door

“There Is No Door”

  —and then the music stops

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

The Lie

Your arms lift me up

  as your words take me down

 

And I’m caught in-between

  your smile and frown

 

Your arms making promises

  your words never keep

 

My spirit in limbo

  my heart left to weep

 

My soul is in turmoil

  my mind double dealt

 

As your fear and your passion

  collide

 

What’s to be known,

  and what’s to be felt

 

Is it your words or your actions

  —that lie

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Casting Shame

By darkness I trolled

  in my oft-shedding skin

 

Hidden alleys I roamed

  for new victims at whim

 

But at last I must face

  the deception I’ve wrought

 

And repay every memory

  that festers and rots

 

As my twisted rebellion

  turns its anger within

 

No forgive or forgetting

  or my blaming the gin

 

In the few moments left

  as I slither and weave

 

Still bearing false witness

  against those I’ve deceived

 

My venom gets swallowed

  death final and small

 

With the light I once blocked

  —casting shame on it all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Unbaptized Words

Certificate unsigned

  pen firmly in hand

 

The bliss not for barter

  its insight free-stands

 

Faith and acceptance

  may go where they please

 

To my grave and beyond

  the verse teaches and frees

 

No savior I ask for

  forgiveness I shun

 

Redemption unspoiled

  new ink on the run

 

Till one day uncovered

  hidden deep on the shelf

 

A message unchristened

   buried dark and unfelt

 

Where the voice I was gifted

  and the music I heard

 

In themselves live forever

  —free unbaptized words

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)