On a battlefield lined

  with the blood of dead letters

I slay the monsters of uncertainty

   —and their legacy of fear

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2013)

If I wanted to show you what I see

 I’d be a painter

 

If I wanted to offer you salvation

 I’d be a preacher

 

If I wanted to play to your fantasy

 I’d be an actor

 

But I decided to give you more than that

   —I’m a writer

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

Politicians…

 

Married  

to the sound

of their own voice

 

Divorced

from those

who elected them to serve

 

Philanderers

of a

bigger truth

 

Infidels

in the end

  —only to themselves

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2013

 

 

Those of us who give nothing

  ask everything…

    —from those who give it all

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2013)

Music…

 drowning the words

 in false harmony

 

Honesty…

  lost forever

  inside the verse

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2013)

I lose myself over and over

  before finding my way again

 

Promises surely I will break

  pieces—my heart to mend

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2014)

No more book fairs or tours
no autographs signed

My words are my gift
the privacy mine

No talk shows or fetes
New York Times to eschew

Questions unanswered
—my thoughts unreviewed

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

His spirit denounced

 his body on fire

 

His words rechristened

 —the past but a liar

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: October, 2018)

 

Sculpting with his words,

  the verse carved through the silence

   —until screaming loud

 

(Haiku Alliteration: Villanova Pennsylvania, Jan. 2014)

 

To live on inside the hearts

  of those you’ve loved

 

Is life

  —beyond your dreams

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2013)