Never able to break on through

 caught in the time capsule

of yesterday’s tomorrow

he wandered alone …

Searching the darkened streets

of Santa Monica

hearing the music—chasing the words

dancing as demons followed behind

Channeling ancient voices

 trapped outside a future closed

to his irreverent questioning

—lost within the storm

 

(To JDM: August, 2023)  

The way they come to me

the way that they’re heard

And written in haste

whether rich or absurd

Each vowel from the anthem

of consonant rhymes

Pronouncing arrhythmic  

with hopes to define

Religiously deigning

the blood from my pen

New veins on the parchment

—alive from within

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2023)

I could write a sonnet

or maybe a play

I could have gone epic

in hopes to relay

What snippets say better

in stations of rhyme

And carry within them

—a power sublime

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2023)

I have been wrong

more times than I’m right

Intentions misguided

in search of the light

Each time I have stumbled

each time that I’d fall

New chance for redemption

those voices on call

My pathway hard trodden

the ruts and the stones

Defining a journey

where wishes atone

Whose last steps once taken

though battered and torn

Emerge from the darkness

—my spirit reborn

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2023)

 

What did I leave

my family

What have I left

to my kids

What did we share

together

Why would they ever

forgive

The things I kept

inside me …

The times I sat

alone …

The things I hid

in silence …

Those times

—that haunt me so

 

(The New Room: August, 2023)

Words are like paint

your voice is the brush

The image though spoken

both vivid and lush

 

Each page but a portrait

your canvas when bound

Today and tomorrow

—eternity’s sound

 

(The New Room: August, 2023)

A simulated consciousness

beyond our will to choose

Defying Einstein, Bohr, and Hume

where logic stands defused

 

The matter at hand can’t matter

when rules unwrite themselves

An order once thought preordained

—entropic and indwelt

 

(The New Room: August, 2023)

Pounding each key

like a Fender Rhodes

the computer bent and wailed

Bits and bytes

of encrypted language

messages derailed

 

Memory freezes

last chance rebooted

restart zero-sum

The riff uncapped

its printout fading

—typeface on the run

 

(The New Room: 8/6/2023)

 

Nothing more powerful

than speaking the truth 

Pangs of deception

beguile uncouth 

Spoken immortal

knighted profound

Today and tomorrow

—veracity crowned

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2023)

Sleep, sleep,

tiny footsteps of death

walking through my dreams

hiding from the light

 

Calling out my name,

waiting for an answer

guardian of the exit

—to damn or delight

 

(The New Room: August, 2023)