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

Elusive Rambling

Disarmed

 

Bullets fall silent

against words

well chosen

 

Their caliber

muted

— the target on fire

 

(Villanova University: March, 2024)

 

 

 

Stuck In Gear

 

Motion

not an absolute

The world

is never still

 

Inertia

tries to write the law

Where stop and start

are nil

 

History

at the speed of light

Consensus

in the math

 

But standing

here

While stuck in gear

— the notion leaves me flat

 

(Villanova University: March, 2024)

 

 

 Before The After

 

Don’t bog down

in research

Spontaneity

the thing

Truth

is most elusive

And joy

a passing Spring

 

In flashes

of an instant

What’s timeless

will appear

Thinking often

kills the goose

That lays

— both far and near

 

(Villanova University: March, 2024)

 

 

 Deafening Silence

 

Things most often named

before understood

Then never renamed

for the bad or the good

 

‘Particles of light’

we now know as waves

But ad infinitum

their reference stays

 

A ‘Tablet of Paper’

consisting of sheets

Two ‘Bolts’ of lightning

fused Franklin’s belief

 

A ‘Softball’s’ still deadly

 meant to careen

And ‘Deafening Silence’

— spurs wonder indeed

 

 

(Villanova University: March, 2024)

 

What Would I Say

My Father died at 63

I’m now 75

I remember the day

I turned 63

Thinking I would finally know

What he knew

Be able to feel what he felt

See what he saw

And to be who he was

But I wasn’t a decorated

World War 2 Marine

The last of his platoon

To survive

The Solomon Islands the graveyard

Of most of his friends

He died on a Thursday

But we were estranged

‘Another woman who was not my Mom’

Looking back I wonder

What could I have changed

What words would I have used

To say to him …

 

(To Edward F. Behm U.S.M.C.: March, 2024)

 

Morning Rain

Answering The Past

 

I tell you what

you ask me why

Inside this ring

of time disguised

Two hundred reasons

passing go

Retracing steps

— of long ago

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

 

 

Forever Now

 

Make your bed with today

no one’s promised tomorrow

The present is visceral

its moment at hand

Repeating itself

in joy and in sorrow

The instant eternal

— forever Divine

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

 

 

Lost To Oneself

 

What do the years mean

when they come to an end

Their number a folly

if hearts cannot mend

A month or a decade

results but the same

‘With feeling abandoned

— a life spent in vain

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

 

 

 The Moment Blessed

 

The future

can be avoided

the present cannot

 

The past but

a door prize

to what you have not

 

To live in

the moment’s 

eternal refrain

 

A blessing

self given

— again and again

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

 

 

 Calling Us Home

 

Drawn into the light

arms open wide

to hear

that song again

 

Which ushered

us here

replaying clear

— by Angels from within

 

(1st Book  Of Prayers: March, 2024)

 

 

A Choice

 

The grey winter

of dismal intention

recurs with a vengeance

— until you say NO

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)