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

Chevalier

“Mon Dieu, mon Dieu,”

   he screamed to the crowd

 

“On stage as a vagabond

   my home you enshroud

 

“My makeup—my armor,

   my performance—my cause

 

“Reborn with each act,

   as I hear your applause

 

“You take me each matinee,

   you take me each night

 

“To the depths of your hearts

   where my darkness alights

 

“Mon Dieu, mon Dieu,”

   he shouted again

 

“Forever my audience

   —forever my friends”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

The Chameleons

Bravery and fear

  not either or

 

But versions of…

 

Valor and shame

  brought heretofore

 

Mixed pieces of…

 

A riddle to confound

  the poet’s mum

 

As glory weds disdain…

 

Courage and fear

  not zero-sum

 

But oft times look the same

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

And You, To Me

I believe the last person I shall ever see,

  is you

    —and you, me

 

I believe the last person I will ever know,

  is you

   —and you, me

 

I believe the last person I shall ever love,

  is you

   —and you, me

 

I believe the last place I will ever go,

  is to you

   —and you, to me

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Tasunka Witko

The greatest of men

 he bled the truth,

 his wounds for all to share

 

A symbol relived

 a life unspoiled,

 courage all too rare

 

The towering hawk

 the thundering storm,

 hailstones mark the way

 

A moment in time

 a vision embraced

   —his name the children pray

 

(Plane From Detroit: August 21, 2018) 

Distance & Separation

There is an emptiness

  between Hemingway’s words

 

A hollow sound

  that slides off the page

 

The space creates distance

  as the Old Man wanted

 

From the reader

  and voyeurs of pain

 

“Distance between himself and the day

   he hauled in that great fish

 

“Distance from that last great battle

   calling out from beyond his reach

 

“Distance from the arena, where the

   horns got close but death got closer

 

“And distance from the many women

   he tried to love and failed”

 

No matter how far he lived afield,

  be it Paris, Havana, or Ketchum

 

In no place was there distance enough

  or where his words could be safe

 

The separation and memory loss

  became deafening and finally too much

 

As he gave in to the distance

   —one last and final time.

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)