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

What Sleep Can’t Befriend

Are you the hero

  of a recurring dream

 

Or the victim

  of a life undone

 

Are you the ambassador

  for all you esteem

 

Or a fugitive

 —a soul on the run

 

Are you a real friend

  beyond trial and strife

 

Whose allegiance

  now stalwart defends

 

Are you the true master

  of all your desires

 

Or the ghost

 —of what sleep can’t befriend

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

In Memoriam: Chris Kyle

His bravery inspired

  a hero defiled

 

By one of his own

  whose spirit disowned

 

All memory attacks

  what never came back

 

   ‘from a war beyond

    winning or losing’

 

The best of the best

  too early to rest

 

His brothers in arms

  —his first choosing

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

A Wish—Undeclared

Is Poetics

  a poem or a process

 

Is Love

  a lover or romance

 

Is Art

 a painting or a vision

 

Is Worship

  a place or deliverance

 

Is Freedom

  a word or a statement

 

Is Family

  just blood that we share

 

Is Duty

  an oath or vocation

 

Is Truth

  just a wish—undeclared

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Our Fated Selves

Folding in to convention

Sealed in creases of acceptance

Maligned and misled

By the false promises

Of a stolen heart

We chase the white whale

Of validation

Into waters of denial…

  “Fury—the rallying cry

   of our vengeful spirit

   Hate—the jilted lover

   of our fated selves”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

Loud And Wild

The power of the written word

  the spoken word supreme

 

Ink to then commission

  what only breath can glean

 

Soldiers line up back to back

  letters ranked and filed

 

The command to march just given once

  —its war chant loud and wild

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)

The Devil’s Teapot

The Devil’s Teapot

—a witches brew

 

Remembrance poured

  in sorrows true

 

The Devil’s Teapot

  bone china cracked

 

New leaks a bane

  in virtue lacks

 

The Devil’s Teapot

  it fills once more

 

With pain now forked

  to stir rancor

 

The Devil’s Teapot

  whose lid seals tight

 

To curse and scald

  —this endless night

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2016)