Deception comes richly,

new lies in its purse

 

Old wolves on the mountaintop

—Gideon’s curse

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

You could,

but you can’t

 

You would,

though you won’t

 

You did,

then you didn’t

 

You were

—and you weren’t

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

A place though small enough to write,

still big enough to dream

 

My pen, a passport out of time,

with phrases to redeem

 

The North Wind calls, a purple sky,

on wings my ear enchants

 

And hears but one voice through the clouds

—to make the letters dance

 

(The New Room: February, 2021)

Does your writing dance above the words

or somewhere down below

 

Do voices borrowed and feelings loaned,

occlude your diction’s flow

 

Do phrases couple and stanzas mesh,

in new harmonic forms

 

Does music waltz proudly from page to page

—to score new lyrics born

 

(Walking With Colby: February, 2021)

 

 

Surrogate reality,

divorced from what’s real

 

The news on your cable,

and movies conceal

 

The brands that you purchase,

the labels you wear

 

Convince you of something,

the ‘Emperor’ shares

 

While consciously vacant,

unconsciously lost

 

The dew on the lilacs,

impermanent frost

 

Like quicksand it’s calling,

disguised as a beach

 

Your essence is falling,

and far out of reach

 

As peacocks left strutting,

unable to fly

 

Your time ever wasted

—and waving goodbye

 

(Bryn Mawr College: February, 2021)

An eighty-buck hairdo,

an eighty-year face

 

The two now in conflict,

all balance erased

 

With age as a symbol

to search and destroy

 

All vanity coddled,

to plunder and toy

 

Bejeweled and bedangled,

she limps from the chair

 

Her stylist left smirking,

paid well—more than fair

 

These ‘blue hairs’ a staple,

her ticket to fame

 

The stench of the hair dye,

the price of the game

 

The credit card processed,

cash tip in her hand

 

She escorts Miss Edna

to her handicapped van

 

In the mirror she wonders,

as she looks at herself

 

“Am I just a pariah

—stealing dignity’s wealth”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2021)

The question you didn’t have to ask…

the only answer you need

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Truth is a question,

all answers abstain

 

Its dream open ended

—wonderments gain

 

(The Book Of Prayers: February, 2021)

To what extent

is reality persuadable

 

Are the fence posts in concrete,

the commas unknown

 

Are the laws of existence

as such, redefinable

 

The axioms fluid

—truth more than is shown

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2021)

Has evolution

gotten bigger than God

 

 With Darwin the prophet,

a wink and a nod

 

Has almighty reason

rechristened itself

 

To worship false dogma

—in spite of what’s felt

 

(The New Room: February, 2021)