Once she performed it

she made it her own

 With joy we all listened

and marveled atoned

 

Endowed from the heavens

the Angels in awe

Her spirit celestial

your nerve endings raw

 

A voice for all seasons

Grand Madam of sound

To search for a lifetime

her like never found

 

While crossing each genre

she made time a slave

Her stylings eternal

— a gift heaven gave

 

(For Aretha Franklin: January, 2024)

 

Living in one

renting the other

Owning them both

then to discover

As owner I’m captive

the tenant is free

In debt to the banker

—remortgaging me

 

(The New Room: January, 2024)

 

Alone

in my boyhood

the adult awaits

impatient indulgence

the year growing late

 

The woods

and the forest

refuse to let go

my spirit within them

the man to forego

 

Parents

and teachers

left counting the days

as wonder and whimsy

hold on and delay

 

The moment

I falter

the day that I fall

that boy left to wander

— where time never calls

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024) 

Sometimes

it’s a very good idea

to cry

 

Sometimes

hello the opening act

of goodbye

 

Sometimes

what you think about

is not what you know

 

Sometimes

the reason to come

the best reason to go

 

Sometimes

when cresting the hill

the view doesn’t change

 

Sometimes

when cresting the hill

your destiny claimed

 

Sometimes

when music enthralls

the poetry flows

 

Sometimes

when music enthralls

there’s nothing to sow

 

Sometimes

a wish in the wind

beats two in the well

 

Sometimes

the harder we pray

the closer to hell

 

Sometimes

 just what you ask for

is just what you’ll get

 

Sometimes

when hope has been lost

— it’s best to forget

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Make sure you know

what you’re trying to say

 

But let readers figure it out

— for themselves

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Explain the words

and all freedom is gone

Slicing and dicing

enslaved to the throng

Meaning depends

upon whom and what’s heard

Evolving new wings

—each reader a bird

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

I did

I will

I can’t

I don’t

 

I have

I shall

I shan’t

—I won’t

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Dare to make

it rhyme

 

Fight for

every sound

 

Change with

every breath

 

Leave the world

—profound

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

The Great Chain of Being

it stretches beyond

both forest and meadow

past silence and song

 

It lays out behind you

to show where you’ve been

eternal before you

far into the din

 

The Great Chain of Being

attaches us all

through links of connection

from Winter through Fall

 

One looming question

 forever remains

does the chain lie unbroken

—past future the same

 

(The New Room: January, 2024)

You often find in strangers

what’s missing in yourself

The plus and minus forces

their magnet strongly felt

 

It’s easiest to outline

and trace the empty space

Of what’s filled in by others

—that you cannot embrace

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)