Most miserable
when she’s happy
Most shameful
when she’s proud
Most prescient
when unconscious
Most distant
in a crowd
Most forthright
when not speaking
Most giving
when denied
Most secret
when she’s telling all
Most dead
—but still alive
(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
The script of experience,
endorsing our wills
banking our choices,
paying our bills
Crediting our memory
for what lies ahead
debentures of faith
the black and the red
A ledger retallied,
both columns in sync
the plus and the minus,
indelible ink
Its summary left open,
all errors erased
with loans to push forward
—new funding in place
(Rosemont College: December, 2021)
The cold dripping silence,
day after day…
Washes the future,
past floating away
Drop by drop,
filling up with regret
Drowning the moment
—caught in its net
(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
Keeping it new,
beginning again
clearing my eyes,
avoiding the din
Keeping it new,
the present untold
the past but a weight,
the future on hold
Keeping it new,
returning at last
to what never leaves,
and never contrasts
Keeping it new,
tomorrow on loan
yesterday pawned
—eternity owned
(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
Wise and in love,
be there never the day
Where reason and passion
—together will lay
(The New Room: November, 2021)
He burned the book on the second day,
its truth not till the third
but in between–his memory screamed,
forever to be heard
(Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania: December, 2021)
Church always sides
with canons and might,
preaching of dawn
while blessing the night
Holiness shines
among diamonds and gold,
the battle unwon
—till redemption is sold
(Dreamsleep: December, 2021)
After the diagnosis,
each moment a dream
of years and then months
and days in between
After the surgery,
the dream became real
time again captured
—the sentence repealed
(The New Room: December, 2021)
Don’t let the poetry
weaken the poem
The structure a servant
—for what’s to be known
(The New Room: December, 2021)
The Baltimore Catechism,
mornings at eight
Sister Marcella,
don’t ever be late
Its message didactic,
the devil to run
Each question, each answer,
with God zero-sum
Who and what made me,
and why every day
Resistance was futile,
dissent not displayed
An altar boy’s memories,
his sacristy torn
Still missing the process
—where freedom was born
(Saint Thomas of Villanova Chapel: December, 2021)
