“Poke the bear
you get the claws
Chase the shark
you get the jaws”
With each lie
foundations crack
A friend once hurt
your soul left wracked
Timeless rules
do still apply
Where you can run
but never hide
Truth outdates
the oldest Sage
With us its servant
— time its slave
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Verse sublimation
skipping the will
Centering the message
critics are chilled
Listening to silence
voices dethroned
Freeing the moment
— tomorrow on loan
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Art nothing more
than an act of creation
Becoming Divine
every new inspiration
Tunnels of wonder
your fortune to mine
Time as the drill bit
— transcendence sublime
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Only through the act
of self-reflection
— is the Creator truly known
(1st Book Of Prayers: January, 2000)
In youth
the words were
loaned to me
from others
as their source
Till that day
one refused
to leave
and camped
on my front porch
It said …
“I have
a lot of friends
no need
to be
alone”
And one
by one
they climbed
my steps
to stay
— and call me home
(The New Room: August, 2024)
Verbal Foundlings
Free or blank
tomato
tomatto
Without rhyme’s link
there’s no
bravado
The verse left orphaned
all kinship
spurned
As unconnected
words crash
— and burn
(The New Room: July, 2024)
Death Grip
The tighter
we hold on
The faster
— it slips away
(Dreamsleep: July, 2024)
Now Is Now
Freedom in the moment
the past is the past
Throwing off chains
— tomorrow recast
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Reaching Back
Closer in the distance
than what endears my touch
I focus on your memory
— reclaimed in fated lust
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
He wanted to be
around clowns
but never wanted
to be happy
He wanted to write
great melodies
never wanting
to sing
He wanted to stand
on the mountaintop
but never wanted
to fly
He wanted to read
every book
never wanting
to speak
He walked in
the twilight
of tragedy’s
sunset
He loved several
women
only after
they were gone
He called to
his dog
who was stuffed
in the parlor
He answered
every question
that couldn’t
— be asked
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Knowledge of the future
memories of the past
Caught within a final vacuum
dissipating fast
Wanton disbelieving
eyes are liars still
Perception changed then rearranged
sensation thrice distilled
The philosophy of physics
logicians burn and melt
Time but smirks as gravity flirts
judgment prior dealt
Memories of the future
knowledge of the past
Once you slow the ebb and flow
— the moment is recast
(Dreamsleep: August, 2024)
Apology
not good enough
Intention
still to blame
The road to hell
left burning red
its deviance
in flames
Excuses
rolling off the tongue
with lie
compounding lie
A higher power
judgment bound
the devil
— in denial
(Bryn Mawr College: July, 2024)
Loneliness
trumps anger
as love
wields its sword
No shielding
or armor
will lessen
or ward
Loneliness
a prison
its jailer
within
No ire
or fury
compares
— to its din
(Dreamsleep: July, 2024)
An Anthology Of Perception 