Chasing a memory

wrapped in a moonbeam

Lighting the darkness

—freeing the words

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

I believe in Jesus

I believe in Buddha

I believe in Mohammed

—divinity shared

 

I believe in grace

I believe in epiphany

I believe in tomorrow

—the promise it bears

 

I believe in man’s ability

to rise above his nature

religion the jailer

—whose lies forestall

 

I believe that enlightenment

requires a commitment

to become the living embodiment

—of that One who calls

 

(The 1^st Book Of Prayers: November, 2016)

Stalking a dream

trailing a memory

A scent came in focus

  wafting desire

 

Seized by the moment

alluding a time warp

Tracking its shadow

ambush on fire

 

Covered in greasepaint

fear is approaching

Hearing its footsteps

the jungle embarked

 

Crosshair detention

target redemption

Locked and reloaded

—one shot in the dark

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2023)

 

Zero to the thousandth power

logic on the run

Oblongata left in pieces

nothing zero-sum

 

Squaring the root unto itself

Euclid at the cliff

A equals B as B disappears

the quotient nondescript

 

Hickory Dickory’s mouse on the run

though nimble Jack gets burned

Formulas crumbling as integers balk

what’s ‘given’ mocked and spurned

 

Zero to the thousandth power

reason clones its fear

Classical thought—not selling or bought

Pythagorean tears

 

(36^th & Chestnut Sts: September, 2023)

Abbots of darkness

bishops of pain

Cloistered in dogma

praying for rain

 

Thunderous chanting

 tempest above 

Damning false prophets

 blessing a dove

 

Grace comes a hailstorm

Coventry’s shame

Lost in its downpour

thirst to remain

 

Warning blasphemers

in skies that portend

Ordained and self-serving

 the drought never ends

 

(The New Room: September, 2023)

This poem I read

at the end of my life…

 

As I bid you adieu

from the joy and the strife

 

A verse filled with hope

and with love from within

 

To carry inside you

my song on the wind

 

I’ll try not to preach

as others have done

 

But rather beseech you

your songs yet unsung

 

To love with the strength

that’s God given inside

 

And to love even more

in an unending rhyme

 

These words are my gift

I bequeath you today

 

In the hope you’ll remember

what I last had to say

 

For I loved you all deeply

your kindness I sought

 

And remember now sweetly

those blessings you brought

 

So I leave you this morning

and bid you farewell

 

I leave you together

pledged hearts here to dwell

 

All strength in your sharing

my love to remind

 

Your redemption awaits

—salvation divine

 

(The 1^st Book Of Prayers: September, 2016)

Born of perdition’s rage

and damnation 

his life was spent in vain

 

Orphaned by every dead-end street

where darkness hides

the greatest pain

 

Fear his lone relation

among shadows  

with no escape 

 

Living disowned on burial row

cursing each gravestone

—dying in place  

 

(The New Room: September, 2023)

Life’s about distance

and lack of control

A search for redemption

someone to console

Closer than farther

then farther again

A distant horizon

new history to fend

Excuses are many

the reasons but few

Voices heard calling

though old were once new

A spirit still willing

a body that’s weak

My pathway desponding

—once more do I seek

 

(The New Room: September, 2023)

Politics

the wedge

that splits

our kinship

Trapping

what we feel

inside

our thoughts

Mutually

excluding

what fate

has destined

Zero sum

prison

allegiance

—bought

 

(The New Room: September, 2023)

Swallowing

lightning

Teasing

the bear

Dharmic

illusions

Circling

a square

 

Trapping

a rainbow

Embracing

the clowns

Rewriting

language

Up

getting down

 

Stripping

the moment

Wishes

that fly

Summer

of love

Timeless

 goodbyes

 

Alice

returning

Virtuous

sin

Lost

in the rhythms

Buried

—within

 

 

(The New Room: September, 2023)