Disbursing our lives in a state of malaise,

scars become currency

—for debts still unpaid

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

Judging you by what you wear

or by the car you drive

the words forever hollow

whose bees have left the hive

Taking stock while looking back

through scarlet colored glass

the vision false, the judgment worse

its memory to outlast

Forming all opinion

by what is wrapped or clad

deception in the present sense 

the view less good than bad

Stepping back while looking in

my eyes take off their shield

to see much deeper than before

—my prejudice to yield

 

(The New Room: March, 2021)

Copyright 2021 Kurt Philip Behm

Stimulus check…

blood diamond

from a failed November,

Payment

to a dark tomorrow,

Bribery

—for a future stole

 

(Dreamsleep November, 2020)

Copyright 2021 Kurt Philip Behm

The voice of my enemy,

the loudest of truths

 

With death as the arbiter

—to win or to lose

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

Copyright 2021 Kurt Philip Behm

If we can’t tell stories

about our past

—the future stays untold

 

If judged by standards

out of time

—the fault beyond control

 

Our history always

both good and bad

—correction on the rise

 

What happened, happened,

as time rolls on

—and yesterday reminds

 

(Independence Square Philadelphia: March, 2021)

Copyright 2021 Kurt Philip Behm

The tyranny of the majority,

democracy oversold

 

The power of the people to cut and paste,

 fat cats in control

 

‘Oh Ye Of Little Faith’ we are,

like rats inside a maze

 

Our government serving to best itself,

entitlement ablaze

 

The curtain rises for one last act,

this play now eons old

 

As despots steal the final scene

—where freedom’s bought and sold

 

(St. David’s Pennsylvania: March, 2021)

 

From here to eternity,

breakfast to lunch

The distance bespoke,

new hole card to punch

 

As yards change to meters,

fruition in sight

All travel inherent

—day changing to night

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

The story of a Poet,

more tragic than his words

 

What then in fact his deeds conscript

—his writing leaves infirm  

 

(Dreamsleep: March, 2021)

To never make a lot of friends,

 though enemies were scarce

 

And keeping both arm’s length away,

my words alone repaired

 

Splitting the difference tween comrade and foe,

the measurement obscured

 

One to the other, together as one

—my loneliness endured

 

(Berkshires: January, 2015)

Bravery and recklessness

 riding together

 

Death as the arbiter

—glory abused

 

(Crow Agency Montana: July, 2009)