The next time I see you

—you better be gone

 

(Dreamsleep: February, 2020)

I hate Periods and like most Commas,

a Full Stop turns me off

 

Quotation Marks I can endure,

but Semi-colons not

 

I love a good Exclamation Point,

all Question Marks so so

 

But my favorite is the Em Dash

—replacing most of those

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

Still looking for that lost back road…

a lifetime spent to find

 

The one that’s waiting just for me,

to travel it sublime

 

It leads to my beginning,

every twist and every bend

 

To take me back inside myself

—all travel there to end

 

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

No off position

on the genius switch

 

No light

to then burn out

 

No cracks to form

on Leonardo’s bronze

 

No Frazier Ali

rout

 

The expectations

stretch beyond

 

What humanity

can span

 

The eye of the needle,

the camel threads

 

What always could

—still can

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

Only a Tiger will approach a Tiger,

Lions never do

 

To give him pause and make him think,

“What will this Tiger do”

 

All other beasts he rests cocksure,

a meal they will become

 

But faced with one of his own kind

—to stay or then to run

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

‘For Kiley, Hunter, Braden & Parker’

 

Persuading you with

my verses

 

Never convincing you

with my yarn

 

Your heartstrings twist

in braided strands

 

To mend my spirit,

darned

 

All shouts have turned

to whispers

 

New melodies

resound

 

A phrase to dance

inside your head

 

As love

—each word surrounds

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2020)

 

 

 

 

 

Some came home…

but never came back

 

Some came back…

but never came home

 

Caught between

forever

 

And what forever

—had disowned

 

(Vietnam Veterans Memorial: March, 2020)

To be,

Or not to be

A Poet…

 

Who’s to say,

Who’s to know

—who’s to really care

 

(Dreamsleep: March, February)

Drunk in Barstow,

waiting for a waitress,

who gets off at 2:00 a.m.

 

The crap game cleaned me,

two bums on the pool table,

 snoring like a train

 

Drunk in Barstow,

third time this month,

I just never seem to learn

 

The waitress said,

“My boyfriend’s gone,

truck’s on the road to Bern”

 

Drunk in Barstow,

on borrowed time,

the repo man at hand

 

I swear tomorrow

I’ll get it right,

tonight—any way I can

 

(Barstow California: July, 1991)

The wound bleeds free

—that kills the angry heart

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2016)

From My Novel ‘Falling Into The Darkness’