Did you go

to the gym

the Poet asked

 

Or just write

weakened

the verse untasked

 

The vowels and

consonants

stay unflexed

 

With words

atrophic

— their muscles vexed

 

(The New Room: December, 2024)

Your voice

becomes a shadow

breathless

aft the fall

 

Whose words

deform in Satan’s grace

speechless

— yet they call

 

(Dreamsleep: 12-19-2024)

I stray

on purpose

my will

redeemed

 

When left

of center

to swim

upstream

 

Against

the grain

my future

hides

 

On roads

less traveled

past times

— divide

 

(The New Room: December, 2024)

The ending

hard

The ending

mean

Your future

soiled

But memory

clean

 

Your back bent

over

Your steps

misplaced

Your speech

a murmur

But one

last ace …

 

A Robin

sits

Upon your

arm

And sings

of times

Forgotten

charm

 

And takes

your last

Begotten

breath

Upon its

wings

To fates

— regret

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Fearing

that day

when the

music stops

My steps

remeasure

my soul

takes stock

 

Rueing

that moment

when time

is gone

My tea

resweetens

all words

— in song

 

(The New Room: December, 2024)

From darkness rose

the light of time

Reborn each day

from Eastern climes

 

In shadows wake

our future’s swim

Cross lakes of fire

toward Adam’s hymn

 

Repeat, repeat

new endings start

Redemption flames

with nature’s spark

 

As echoes answer

in voices new

Virgin mornings

— bid night adieu

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

 

I swore

over and over

and

over and over

Forever

to love her

no matter

the whim

 

But time

after time

as each siren

would call  

I rambled

and left her

my nose

— in the wind

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Good taste

— wears no brand

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Necessary

but not

sufficient

Stated

but

unheard

Always wrong

but never

in doubt

Sworn

but forever

— unwed

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)

Etching my name immortal

the words when left my pen

Take on a new perspective

beyond both me and them

 

Etching all time eternal

the future is renamed

Calling forth beyond true north

— my destiny reclaimed

 

(Dreamsleep: December, 2024)