Training to hear
what cannot be seen
Training to feel
what cannot be deemed
Training to say
what cannot be read
Training to mime
what cannot be said
Training to free
what cannot be caught
Training to know
— what cannot be thought
(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)
Not the worship of ashes
but transmission of fire
Time at its best
will the Muses inspire
Nostalgia and tears
rebury the past
With passion incarnate
— this moment to last
(Connelly Center: September, 2025)
The dirty laundry
of democracy
Near impossible
to clean
You bask in freedom
until it’s gone
Whose nightmare kills
the dream
Warts and pimples
in plain view
Perfection
for the sage
To govern
as the Lord decrees
Our liberty
uncaged
To make those choices
for yourself
And pay the price
be damned
Instead of letting
tyrants rule
To serve
— at their command
(Villanova University: September, 2025)
Don’t let
your spark
become a fuse
blowing up
the truth
Don’t let
the flame
become a blaze
burning down
your youth
Don’t be the
kindling
become the tree
that reaches
and extends
Don’t be
accused
of lighting the match
on what
— should never end
(The New Room: September, 2025)
Were you saved
from yourself
before first being born
Form without
matter
praise without scorn
Were you part
of the promise
not taking the vow
When time
was a servant
not death on the prowl
Did life stay
unbidden
when freedom was free
As daylight
till dusk
no I’s came to be
Did morning
chase daylight
unable to stop
The evening
and twilight
on sale to be bought
As the first step
was taken
the second disowned
The first cut
the deepest
— with nothing on loan
(The New Room: September, 2025)
Waiting
for the
audience
to come to him …
He refused
to go to them
Shunning
those ears
that hide
from the truth …
Like a rose
without its stem
Working
in concert
with Muses
above …
What’s sacred
to remain
Each word
and its
treasure
a gift given once …
Their measure
— to proclaim
(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)
Never complain
never explain
Life on the margins
others sustain
Freeing both ends
caught in the middle
Releasing the truth
— solving the riddle
(To Cole Porter: September, 2025)
Poetry
Neither hobby
nor pastime
its grip ever
grows
Its hold on my
heart
through the drought
and the snow
Each word
that it sends me
each phrase
to impound
And blessing
the silence
my Savior
— resounds
(1st Book of Prayers: August, 2025)
Divine Wind
Shinto
or Buddhist
the Samurai
served
Their honor
and legiance
in blood
was preserved
The sword
as their mantle
and spiritual
Lord
Death
was their preference
dishonor
— abhorred
(Shinjuku Museum: October, 2003)
Betwixt & Between
Better or worse
those two oxymorons
Lying in wait
entrapping the weak
Lo and Behold
they claim self-importance
Lo and Behold
thoughts watered and meek
Polar extremes
they float barely conscious
To lure you between them
and hold you quite mad
Bye after Bye
they muddle your choices
Bye after Bye
— good orphaned with bad
(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)
My Chronology
ages
as my writing
stays young
The years
in retreat
as each new song
is sung
A number
but unit
of folly
relayed
Whose essence
a symbol
of prescience
— in play
(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)
Confronting
the devil’s lawyer
destiny entwined
Heaven and Hell
in the jury box
fate was on the line
The judge
Archangel Raguel
his verdict waits to scream
A sentence cast
in fire untold
— to kill the evil dream
(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)
An Anthology Of Perception 