Nerve ending fuse
  emotional dynamite

The spark of betrayal
—lit by a friend

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

The harder I fight,
  the stronger they wield

The sharper their knives
  the thicker my shield

The louder their shouts
  the deeper my scream

Reality theirs
—all time but a dream

The moment they chose,
  my spirit was gone

Their words uninvited
  dead verse to a song

That plays a reunion
  a reckoning of sorts

Whose lyrics birth silent
—as curses abort

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

Purity weds corruption
  a marriage unrhymed

An Angel having fallen
—damnation defined

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

Between the lines
You read my story
The pain I felt
You washed in glory
New letters rose
The words reformed
As Angel’s marched
With time forlorn
On Satan’s grave
A vesper bell
Salvation rings
—all lies in hell

(Philadelphia Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

Hiding inside the written page,
  reality slipped away

Buried inside a meaning deep,
  its wolves were kept at bay

With feelings ablaze, all answers are torched
  a bonfire at the gate

New questions enshrined, false promises burned
  with ash to mark the way

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2014)

She followed me downward,
  her lips were on fire

From the depths of her lake,
  every wish she inspired

Water everywhere
  lily pads on end

A frog left unkissed
  the price of pretend

She looked at me sadly,
  the bottom came soon

My arms reached out madly
  to drown or to swoon

Her voice calling gently
  my spirit renamed  

As my soul she undressed
—inside her again

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

The darker side of reflection
  —cast in shadows

The darker side of shadows
—cast in hell

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

Damn the truth,
  damn the lies

Damn the trap,
  the choice belies

Damn the freedom,
  damn the fate

Behind their masks
—transcendence waits

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

I used the language to my own end
  never respecting rules or laws

I wrote what seemed the shortest path
  between feelings and my thoughts

I thumbed my nose at sage advice
  knowing what I wrote was true

The first cut then—the first cut now
  the deepest through and through

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)

Poetic editor
—literary oxymoron

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2017)