Deception wears many faces

  —the truth but one

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2015)

The eyes of the artist

  the spirit of man

 

The spark before the fire

  the vision—before the plan

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

All bareness forgiven

  the razors gone dry

 

The excuses all shaven

  no more asking why

 

A soul once abundant

  my face starts to fill

 

No sentence redundant

  no lines to go shrill

 

New destiny chosen

  man’s burden unsung

 

The look becomes learned

  masculinity sum

 

All chains have unshackled

  a face that goes deep

 

A beard now awakens

  —ancient voices that sleep

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

Academia blocks real knowledge,

  Native Peoples will attest

 

So many wrappings covering their lies,

 each field does then arrest

 

With logic and ethics pointing the way,

 their path leads further down

 

Young minds abandoned, thoughts astray,

 pontificates espouse

 

Academia buries the truth

 then wears it like a crown

 

Claiming it only for itself,

 its charlatans abound

 

Attacking all others points of view

 with ink to cut and maim

 

Touting themselves, they flounder and drift

   —a victim of their game

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)

 

The pen became my instrument

 the words became my notes

 

The stanzas burn like songs on fire

 new voices scream with hope

 

The ink runs free and heavy

 the score in black and white

 

The music coursing through my soul

 —to christen love’s delight

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)

 

My verse begins

 where logic ends

 

Escape its mission

 new light to bend

 

The easy answer

 the convenient close

 

Now left to others

 by others chose

 

Each phrase a path

 that leads inside

 

Beyond where dogma

 schemed and lied

 

A light there shines

 unto itself

 

By grace of nothing

 above all else

 

The music starts

 once halfway in

 

To cleanse your mind

 of lies and whim

 

Words join each note

 to dance in song

 

All time untethered

 —from right or wrong

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2019)

Mentally on the road

  while spiritually at home

 

My mind got to wander

   as my soul was at peace

 

Mentally on the road

  while spiritually at home

 

My thoughts got to ponder

  what only distance could release

 

Mentally on the road

  while spiritually at home

 

My roots sinking deeper

  my connection firmed

 

Mentally on the road

  while spiritually at home

 

My legacy planted

   —beneath all that I’d learned

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

Shadows…

  of a former self

 

Shadows…

  of that no longer felt

 

Shadows…

  memories hide in sin

 

Shadows…

  the future-past within

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

Marooned inside the shallows

   —stalked by the next rising tide

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)

My DNA lettered

My bloodstream in verse

My feelings in couplets

My last goes to first

 

My thinking in prose

My expression in rhyme

My horizons unwritten

My soul there to shine

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2015)