Blood upon the keyboards

harmonicas in flight

Chasing notes across the score

horns that greet the night

 

Eighty eight’s to hemorrhage

reeds that bend and break

Music dying then reborn

—trumpeting our fate

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2022)

You first forgive

to then forget

Judgment lost

in past regret

To change the mantra

soul’s unfilled

And cage the snake

—from now until

 

(Freemont Street Las Vegas: July, 2022)

Have I finally truly said it all

running out of words

Thoughts and feelings too remote

my pen a blunted sword

 

The doors revolve and seasons change

as Winter calls my name

Whose grammar laced with period ends

and fingers stricken lame

 

A final time my eyes shut tight

to fall into a dream

Just one more word—new phrase to grace

reaching for the cream

 

(Villanova University: July, 2022)

Adopting the world

for what it is

The illusion orphaned

—death to begin

 

(Las Vegas: July, 2022)

Ye cursed with too much knowledge,

all fate’s within your grasp

The destiny of all beguiled

entrenched behind your mask

 

To Thee of grace outstanding,

the rose and bud the same

Beginnings end as endings start

assumptions die unclaimed

 

Oh Ye who brave the mountain,

its winds blow far and chill

Each footstep placed a sin erased

the moment frozen still

 

And Ye who share the journey,

all mockingbird’s deboned

Your wisdom marks a trail unseen

—for others to atone

 

(Las Vegas Airport: July, 2022)

 

Ease after torment

delight for a time

 

Pain as a stranger

more fondly in mind

 

Absence entrancing

when courting a knave

 

Sweetest the silence

—where screams did pervade

 

(Las Vegas: July, 2022)

As figures don’t lie

but liars can figure

Right is still right

—and wrong is still wrong

 

(Ronald McDonald House: July, 2022)

It’s definitely maybe possible

that she hated to love me so much

Her affection found everything missing

—and distressed her elation nonplussed

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)

 

I sold my memory

for a present reframed

The past in revision

—the future in shame

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)

If you ever get to look into the light

—don’t ever look away

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2022)