Death

awaits thy coming

Life

to its transit befalls

 

Hearts

beat a countdown cadence

As feelings

— malinger and stall

 

********

 

Littering The Silence

 

There’s nothing

you’ve written

that I want

to read

 

Your words

like your thoughts

with pander

mislead

 

Intent

and delivery

are far from

the same

 

As you litter

the silence

to forever

— profane

 

**********

 

Straddling Wide

 

The rogue

the artist

and gentleman

belong to no one class

 

They straddle wide

the great divides

to dwell

— within the mass

 

***********

 

Defiance

 

Reviewers

of art

depressing

at best

Blue ribbon

or panned

a vacuous

quest

 

What’s written

or painted

sculpted

or sung

Stands in

defiance

of the dilettante’s

— tongue

 

********

 

Tempting What’s Hidden

 

The writer more focused

on knowing than judging

Each minute

confirming it’s so

 

The artist too busy

creation on fire

To stop and critique

what is known

 

This moment to value

more than diamonds or gold

Its gift but the present

on loan

 

To tempt what’s still hidden

to come out of the dark

And shower with greatness

— what’s shown

 

(The New Room: July, 2026)

 

 

 

Dig Deeper

 

When faced with an issue

cash won’t solve

— you haven’t got enough

 

********

 

One Thing

 

Forever

to question

Rebuking

the answers

In search of

that one thing

Defining

— the ask

 

********

 

Every Recall

 

Memories …

the only thing

we get to keep

Everything else

with time

retreats

Feelings

relived

in every recall

To cherish

or learn from

— the large and the small

 

********

 

A Dark Capitulation

 

One year

follows the next

Until death

comes to claim you

 

Though most

uninvited

Its presence

commands

 

A dark

capitulation

You follow

it downward

 

Where heat

from the shadows

its fire

— commands

 

********

 

Enemies Waiting

 

No one

escapes

from violence

unscathed

But no one

of valor

looks off

from the fray

Enemies

waiting

upon

the hard earth

Where living

or dying

to each

— has its worth

 

***********

 

Split Screen

 

Everything

and nothing

together at once

 

The horizon

keeps moving

—  duality’s myth

 

*********

 

Caught On A Tightrope

 

Campaigning

in poetry

Governing

in prose

A tongue

that’s been forked

Deceit

in the throes

 

Saying

but one thing

Doing

another

Caught

on a tightrope

Skirting

— forever

 

*******

 

Opposites

 

Just not

being wrong

will not

make you right

 

Opposites

joined

imploding

— on sight

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2026)

The Reefs Ahead

 

Her song is

playing

Your will

impaired  

 

To court

the Siren

of hope’s

— despair

 

********

 

The Fire Of Truth

 

“Wear a mask

long enough …

 you become

the mask

Tell a lie

long enough …

 you become

the lie”

 

Choosing deceit

as your clarion call

your soul is by fate

 forever to fall

Life without truth

 is but death on the wind

verity’s fire

— only burns from within

 

********

 

Graffiti

 

Cosmology

will never explain

the magic of

the universe

 

Astronomy

physics and math

combined

— but graffiti on the wall

 

*********

 

Memories Of Greg

 

Immersed

in sound

Inside of

the wave

 

My past

looms above

The future

to brave

 

Forty feet

down

And preparing

to drop

 

All time

in this moment

Where life

— can’t be bought

 

********

 

Headstones

 

Freedom

most coveted

when purchased

in blood

 

The bones

of our fathers

lie deep

in the mud

 

Beyond

any tender

or currency

known

 

The price

of our liberty

in grave markers

— shown

 

********

 

Montana

 

The heart

of America’s

Old Testament

 

Her vistas

eternal

ancient voices within

 

From Glacier to Miles City

from the Blackfeet

to the Bison

 

The song

of her grandeur

— predates legend and whim

 

********

 

Poetry …

 

Seeing everyday things

— in a once in a lifetime way

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2026)

 

 

A new

beginning

 

An older

end

 

Which way

to enter

 

To break

or bend

 

From start

to finish

 

Who gets

to choose

 

What time

holds hostage

 

To win

— or lose

 

********

 

 

Without Care

 

Women

can love

in an instant

 

But men

only able

at times

 

Women

get lost

in the daydream

 

Where men

stay aloof

undefined

 

Women

hold onto

each moment

 

A man

throws away

without care

 

Women will

question

those feelings

 

That men

so evade

— au contraire

 

********

 

Passions Shower

 

Art

is the wayward

sister

of sex

 

The

wellspring

of creative

power

 

Paying

its dues

to what lust

behooves

 

Planting

 those seeds

only

— passion can shower

 

********

 

 

Spark And Fury

 

Daring you

to think

Asking you

to wonder

Step outside

your comfort zone

Meet me

in the thunder

 

All the trees

majestic

The sky bright

crimson red

Where voices that

your birth set free

Call out to you

again

 

Your home

where spark and fury

ignite the fire

inside

And welcomed back

you’ll not return

To where excuses

— hide

 

********

 

 

Your Fate

 

When you incorporate

with the devil

A junior partner

is all you’ll be

The I.P.O. seals

your fate forever

Your soul

 — no longer free

 

(The New Room: June, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Asked about

his gender

The Son

says “NO”

 

“I created

them solely

for procreation

to flow

 

“The love child

of Mary

and My Father

on high

 

“I purpose

them both

my Holy Spirit

— alive”

 

********

  

Never

 

Living to the max

the writing comes easy

 

(BUT)

 

You’ll never live easy

— and write to the max

 

********

 

The Temptress

 

The Divine Tyranny

of Art

Whose anguished temptation

 forever imparts

 

It grows in your spirit

while taking its tole

And leaves you abandoned

­ — alone unconsoled

 

********

 

Come Rocinante

 

He was a pilgrim

in defense of a shrine

That doesn’t exist

a mirage in the wind

 

A new Don Quixote

tilting at windmills

His gaze but a portal

— to the fire within

 

(Dreamsleep: July, 2026)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complexities

message

within

simple rhyme

 

The shortest

route taken

to phrase

and define

 

What others

may see

but will struggle

to feel

 

Each word

chosen simply

like spokes

on a wheel

 

That turns

and spins freely

no gears

to obstruct

 

And rolls

ever forward

its path

to instruct

 

One day

to remember

as you sit there

alone

 

In foreign

confusion

the rhyme

— takes you home

 

********

 

If The Shoe Fits …

 

You lurk

in the shadows

voyeur

that you are

 

And wait

to pass judgment

from safely

afar

 

Your hands

never dirty

your alibi

clean

 

In a larcened

attempt

to steal

other’s dreams

 

You prey

and you stalk

behind words

you make up

 

To slash

from behind

with a knife

that won’t cut

 

But herein

you’ll die

as the silence

forays

 

To rot in

self-loathing

yourself

— to betray

 

(Dreamsleep: June, 2026)