The taste got sweeter

as the bottle emptied

 

Each sip more joyous

—the label rare

 

(St. David’s Pennsylvania: February, 2021)

The coldest you will ever feel…

a smile not returned

 

(The New Room: February, 2021)

Fear is a mistress

with many suitors

 

Hapless in spirit

—beguiling profane

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

A bevy of censures,

to hit and strike back

 

Each written reprisal

to ward off attack

 

A mother-son warning,

once truant come true

 

Her words now my weapons

—to kill and renew

 

(Beaupre: February, 2021)

 

of a morning

of a window

singing freely

/once heard

 

of a longing

of a distance

in the memory

/wayward

 

of a darkness

of a warning

that prophetic

/sojourned

 

but a vow

but a promise

a betrothal

/returned

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

 

Out and back,

its motion imprisons

out and back,

on an endless sea

 

The ocean pulling

 both hard and wide

the tides recalling

—till setting you free

 

(The New Room: February, 2021)

Grammar school speculators

charlatan math

trading the currency

of borrowed youth

optioning the investment

in forsaken dreams

hedging their futures

with diminished returns

margining interest

—that will never compound

 

(Radnor School Board: February, 2021)

The power in his words,

the love in his eyes

 

The truth in his heart

—no time can disguise

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

The cover pulled back,

exposure full bore

 

Protection gone

—final judgment ensured

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Where do you go

at the end of your dreams

Where do you go

when the daylight moves on

 

Where do you go

once your voice has run dry

Where do you go

—when tomorrow is gone

 

(Pagosa Springs Colorado: July, 2019-Rewritten 2-23-2021)