Your Tour De Force

You say it never mattered 

you say you never cared

You say you never meant it

you say it wasn’t shared

 

You tell me that you’re leaving

the price of love too high

You tell me what you’re taking

— that final last goodbye

 

With sorrow I resent you

with sorrow I decry

With sorrow you brought heartache

with sorrow all your lies

 

Regret will be your suitor

regret to long reside

Regret will be your tour de force

— regret you cannot hide

 

(Dreamsleep: November, 2025)

Laura’s Back

My eyes were diverted

my mind taken back

Her presence upon me

her breath an attack

 

There’s no sense in running

with no place to hide

Although rare in the daylight

her message alive

 

My pen comes out quickly

and drawn like a sword

Each word spoken plainly

and pointed toward

 

My life now a capsule

exploding like hail

Her light towing prescience

the comets new tail

 

Last phrases are written

my senses return

I feel her leave slowly

my pen it still burns

 

I look down at the page

to see what I wrote

The handwriting foreign

familiar once spoke

 

“Your life but a dream

between wisps of my breath

“Once spoken inside you

beyond life — and then death”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2018)

A Poets Cell Phone

I’ve left it on rock ledges

elevators and bars

Taxicabs, backpacks

and motorcycles far

 

It sat on the Great Wall

as I walked away

And fell out of the raft

in Wyoming that day

 

It flew on the airplane

after I’d gotten off

Spending two days in Key West

 Fedex as the cost

 

It’s kept me in touch

that’s important I know

But the voice it records into words

— much more so

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2018)

My Cell Phone Voice Recorder

Old Woman’s Hands

Each vein

is a memory

Each wrinkle

attests

Her bones

dry and brittle

Her grip

still arrests

 

Each day

brings a promise

Each night

a regret

Her will

is sustaining

Her heart

is at rest

 

She speaks

in a voice

that is shrill

out of tune

While losing

her wits

often

long before noon

 

But when

that itinerant

coyote

calls

She looks

down

at her hands

— and remembers it all

 

(Cody Senior Center: November, 2025)

New Words

It’s two hours before dawn

and I’ve slept through the night

The rarest occurrence

 her footsteps come light

 

She let me sleep soundly

and she let me dream free

Before entering my bedroom

and calling to me

 

“Kurt, it’s Laura, she whispered

as she got into bed

Are you happy in the solitude

alone in your head

 

“Your spirit’s been truant

but its voice I recalled

Wake up from your sleep

 follow me down the hall

 

“I’ve something to show you

so rub out your eyes

And see what you looked like

as a boy about five”

 

She led me straight down

to the end of the hall

The door was half open

and my voice I heard call

 

“Aunt Laura, my crayons

have broken again

Aunt Laura, I need

some new words to begin

 

“The ones that you left me

I now know by heart

And to Mother and Father

I recited each part”

 

The boy smiled at her

and she smiled back at him

Before walking me back down

to my room deep within

 

“I’ve always been with you

and love you My Dear

As your Muse I’ve been charged

with your care all these years

 

“You were young when I met you

and took you by hand

Then to never abandon

your voice as a man

 

“Your days may come easy

and your days may come hard

But each night I’ll return

— with new words from afar”

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)