Sometimes …

there’s one poem

that opens your mind

And clears out

the cobwebs

that gather in kind

The words

defy entropy  

speaking as one

And pushing you

forward

— their mission is done

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

We’ve all been crippled

in different ways

To hobble or stumble

 alone in our pain

No one is reprieved

as years take their toll

Till that day we return

one body — one soul

 

(1^st Book Of Prayers: March, 2024)

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)

 

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)

 

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

 

(1^st Book  Of Prayers: March, 2024)

 

 

A Choice

 

The grey winter

of dismal intention

recurs with a vengeance

— until you say NO

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2024)

 

 

 

 

Speak of the devil

 he will appear

Trailing your thoughts

relining your fears

 

Tail of the dragon

wages of sin

Your ninth life in ashes

— fire within

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

She believed in Astrology

he believed in her

Their White House chart in symbols strange

whose doctrine ebbed and flowed

She believed the stars made sense

her love had made him blind

To what his darkest fears had robbed

 — a modern day Tom Joad

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

If you use the word languish

I’m stopping my read

When you speak the word nurture

 I’m far from intrigued  

If I hear you say milieu

I run for the door

Or when you spout genre

my ears to abhor

They’re chosen to impress

when the meaning is weak

Concealing the emptiness

of all that you speak

‘A labyrinth of dilettantes’

penning your verse

Can’t hide what is missing

— with these words you assert

 

(The New Room: February, 2024)

Thinkful Wishing

 

“Age but a number”

if only that were true

Yesterday reborn again

— memories renewed

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024) 

 

 

Moments Beyond Time

 

In search of fresh meat

the future will come

Hour predestined

the hunt zero sum

 

As seconds approach

impending attack

Free every moment

—time dead in its tracks

 

 

(The New Room: February, 2024) 

 

 

Why

 

Why isn’t God

transcending

my doubt

Each day more distant

the louder

I shout

Why can’t the Lord

 acknowledge

my pain

The light

growing dimmer

— the more I proclaim

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)

Innocent tonight

— guilt waits with the dawn

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2024)