Make sure you know

what you’re trying to say

 

But let readers figure it out

— for themselves

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Explain the words

and all freedom is gone

Slicing and dicing

enslaved to the throng

Meaning depends

upon whom and what’s heard

Evolving new wings

—each reader a bird

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

I did

I will

I can’t

I don’t

 

I have

I shall

I shan’t

—I won’t

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

Dare to make

it rhyme

 

Fight for

every sound

 

Change with

every breath

 

Leave the world

—profound

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

The Great Chain of Being

it stretches beyond

both forest and meadow

past silence and song

 

It lays out behind you

to show where you’ve been

eternal before you

far into the din

 

The Great Chain of Being

attaches us all

through links of connection

from Winter through Fall

 

One looming question

 forever remains

does the chain lie unbroken

—past future the same

 

(The New Room: January, 2024)

You often find in strangers

what’s missing in yourself

The plus and minus forces

their magnet strongly felt

 

It’s easiest to outline

and trace the empty space

Of what’s filled in by others

—that you cannot embrace

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

An invitation came today

from the Devil’s hand

Two short words addressed my fate

damnation his command

 

“Arrive at midnight, don’t be late”

inside he wrote in blood

“Wear something light, the fire waits”

—perdition’s victimhood

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

A heavy ear

an empty heart

Breathless voice

with eyes that dart

Love forsaken

rebirthing pain

Hope redundant

—lost refrain

 

(The New Room: January, 2024)

The trappings of

a Poet …

or being a Poet 

They’re each something

different

remote and distinct

The tweed jacket

wood paneled

image deceiver

Lays claim to what

only

—enlightenment inks

 

(Dreamsleep: January, 2024)

One day in January

I borrowed a day

A day from late June

I have to repay

 

The temperature rising

the sun high above

Birds are returning

as thoughts turn to love

 

As June then approaches

the bill coming due

With summer winds blowing

and everything new

 

I reach down in sorrow

obliged as I am

To clear my account

—the snow to begin

 

(Wayne Pennsylvania: January, 2024)