I’d gladly take
one verse
ill written
Than a tome
explicit
with words
unfelt

I’d gladly take
one moon
still distant
Than a sunrise
hidden
by rain
that pelts

I’d gladly take
one real
good tiding
Than a score
of praises
that slap
my back

I’d gladly take
one heart
on fire
Than a million
minds
no souls
— attached

(Villanova University: June, 2025)

The beginning
of the end
The end
of the beginning
To look
and not see
A desperate
path

To start
what can’t finish
Destroying
tomorrow
When eyes
remain closed
The future
— uncast

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Politics & Religion
boneyard
of existence
Power & Corruption
misleading
in kind
Promising & Deceiving
legislation
and dogma
Politics & Religion
deathtrap
— for mankind


(The New Room: June, 2025)

A mouthful
of hate
A bullhorn
of lies
Dissected
infected
With terminal
pride
Conscripting
the fledgling
Embedded
in brine
Indicted
convicted
True felons
— of time

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Ella sent the invitation
Louis worked the door
to celebrate between the lines
inflection served du jour

My heart was given freely
their phrasings lined my soul
beyond the words and melody
goodbye to rock and roll

The Saints Were Marching In
as Satch blew his horn with glee
(and Ella said)
No, No They Can’t Take That
— Away From Me

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

The Pride And The Longing

One man’s ‘Old Days’
another man’s ‘New’
Chasing a memory
the pilgrim is due

One reminisces
what one only schemes
The pride and the longing
— two sides of a dream

(Ardmore Pennsylvania: June, 2025)


Shades Of Gray

Mixing wheat
with the chaff
The good
with the bad
In shadings
of gray
The truth
finds a home

Taking shape
from the whole
When shunning
both ends
Polarity’s
vanish
And clarity
— shown

(Ardmore Pennsylvania: June, 2025)

*****
in tatters
Gomorrah
is ash
L.A. lies
burning
New York
in the trash

Cowards
run rampant
Weakness
endeared
Our heritage
shattered
With traitors
— revered

(Inside The Fire: June, 2025)

With over forty
years apart
let’s pretend
it’s just a day
That time we’ve lost
and what it cost
to ignore
and look away

We can’t tunnel
through the heartache
but a bridge over
can be built
To put behind
those days unrhymed
with tomorrow
— yet unfelt

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Truth untangled
darkness shines
Terse in format
long on tone
Silence Christened
sin bemoans

Complex topics
simple rhymes
Said but once
forever chime
One breath frees
indentured words
Locked away
— in verse unheard

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

That gear to move forward
is often reverse
The best choice of words
fortune hides in a curse
Our holiest blessing
an omen that warns
And friendship most sacred
in traitor’s reborn
Today frees tomorrow
once yesterday’s gone
Each phrase that escapes us
new words to a song
The time of the season
Fall Winter and Spring
A Summer of angels
— new devils will bring

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

In the back
of my mind
there’s a shadow
Covering
what’s never
to be

In the back
of my mind
there’s a memory
Reminding
what’s dearest
to me

In the back
of my mind
there’s a longing
Driving
me constantly
on

In the back
of my mind
there’s a mantra
Repeating
its message
— in song

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

I learned many things from him ...

That the trackless path
is gifted
to those
who believe
That the distance
between thoughts
can only be connected
by words
That the idea itself
is worthless
without the thing
it expressed
That tomorrow
is no more important
than yesterday
or today
That the bullfighter
must never die
with the bull
still alive
That revolution
is the truest place
where death
is reborn
That real courage
is only measured
by the one
sorely lacking
That to love her once
is better
than to love
her again
That you must
when you must
until the bugles
have stopped
That worshipping
oneself
is life’s fatal
devotion
That the jungle
we chase
is the jungle
we live in
That the willingness
to say it
frees a willingness
to act
That each great new
adventure
begets a greater
new ending
That in the tears
of a stranger
bleeds the heart
— of a friend

(Key West: January, 1994)

The curse of the writer
woo’s angels and devils
Chasing the daylight
far into the night

Each phrasing an omen
of hope or foreboding
With lines that entangle
— in lost delight

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

There’s a lingering shadow
that follows us all
Counting each breath
each step till we fall

Its pall ever darkens
while just out of reach
Its voice heard to whisper
through mountain and beach

It sees every moment
both joyous and sad
Recording our journey
the good and the bad

And then on that day
when our fate meets the end
Its arms wrap around us
— our very last friend

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Through struggle
one can justify life
Losing the battle
enhances the view
Blood on the rails
all markings assured
Death as the prize
— recurring anew

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Writer’s write
Speaker’s speak  
(and never)
— the twain shall meet

(Ketchum Idaho: August, 1983)

Too much
of too much
— is never enough

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Lighting Tomorrow

Memory’s
lantern
near empty
unfilled

Each night
in the darkness
to flicker
until

Your eye
without warning
a flash
unexplained

Forever
relighting
and fanning
— the flame

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)


Shamal Winds

Lost
in the deepest
recesses of myself
And happier
than I have
any right to be
The hidden
regions
my newfound oasis
A Bedouin
convert
— home among the sands

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Infestation

The American Dream
becoming
a nightmare ...
Conscripted
by strangers
new thieves in the night
Usurping
our freedoms
embedded among us
Invested in nothing
but
— what they can steal

(University Of Pennsylvania: June, 2025)


Leaving The Noise

He came into
silence
like fish
take to water

The only thing
constant
his being
alone

To wander
the alleys
of quiet
reception

The noise
and confusion
for others
— to drone

(The New Room: June, 2025)

Looking back
speed is warped
looking forward
it slows
Each memory
a racehorse
that goes
and it goes

Intuition
the truant
in what it
will bring
When time
is reversed
and the Jester
— is King

(The New Room: June, 2025)

In flowering
wishes
a feeling
unfolds

A vase
sits awaiting
its love
to arrive

Each petal
of hope
in a blossom
untold

Till picked
from the valley
of passion
— alive

(Dreamsleep: June, 2025)

Walking South
on the beach
in front of Doral
I heard a woman sing ...
“If you put the man
back in romance
I’ll put the lay
back in lady”
Catching up to her
I asked
where she first
heard the song
She said: “It’s mine
do you like it?
It still
needs more work
I was hoping
this walk
would enchant
or inspire”
At the Fontainebleau
I said: “I do very much
Let me help you write
the second verse”

(Miami Beach: 1982)

Dreams Of ‘Papa’

Burning fat
off your soul
with each word
that he wrote

Every vision
a banquet
to swallow
or choke

In the ring
or arena
with blood
boiling high

A man greets
the dragon
with hello
— or goodbye

(Dreams Of Papa: May, 2025)


Sins Of Omission

Intending
to deceive
with words
unsaid
In your
silence
truth denied

What’s stays
on mute
voiced in
your head
Its  
intention
— vilified    

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Smyllum Park

The great
deceivers
hope and affection
Leave you
a foundling
an orphan of joy
As twins
they’re conscripted
in fields of abandon
Where life takes
no solace
and heartache
— deploys

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Into The Breach

Every war
is different
Every war’s
the same
Bullets fly
and soldiers die
With valor
— to rename

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Crossing Over

A whispered dare
a final vow
the Rubicon behind

New Light ahead
through smoke and blood
the final victim — time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Self-Owned

Remember
the day
you became entitled
to yourself

No debts to pay
no last charade
the circle closed
— indwelt

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Reflection

Do we just recall
a memory
Or its cause
and its effect

Is consciousness
a chain of links
To front load
— or dissect

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Beatitude

The deeper you question
the more you constrain
God’s true existence
to never explain

Loosen your grip
on what holds you back
Surrender to glory
— Divinity’s tack

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)


The Only Thing

Winning is always
undefeated
Score
to tell the tale

The victory plum
is zero sum
With glory
— to regale

(The New Room: May, 2025)


All Is Now

Unplugging tomorrow
recharging today
Conscripting the moment
— inside which we pray

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)

Forbidden Ground

Wandering
beyond the limitation
of death
Trespassing
through the back gate
of forever
Maundering
alone in a ******
wilderness
Witnessing
the future destruction
—  of time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Bookends

Enough to be absent
he fumbled the words  
His mind ever vacant
new truancies heard

Those spaces beyond him
those spaces behind
Bookends of fruition
— unspoken defined

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Sognefjord Waiting

A mile
past tomorrow
a glacier
lies at rest
New memories stored
within its fjord
awaiting
— our behest

(The New Room: May, 2025)

Religion ...
*****
of the poor
And roadmap
of the forever
— lost

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

Some go
through life
in a sophomoric
zone

Knowing about
strangers
while being
alone

To ever
quote names
or that face
in the crowd

Aggrandizing
self
as their folly
— astounds

(Reading Market Philadelphia: May, 2025)

A Poet dies
and
the world lives
to mourn
Rereading his
words
a new spirit
is born

In paradigms
searching
for hope and
reprieve
His memory
calls out
to those
— who believe

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Wrap your poem
around nothing
its bow mocked
in relief
Each word
but a gesture
of empty
deceit

Wrap your verse
in a vacuum
where all speech
is abhorred
The power
of emptiness
alone
— and unscored

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Days beyond memory
born in perfection
Light unrefracted
teasing the sun

Time without numbers
thought unencumbered
Lost in beginnings
— never to end

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Immortality
a panacea
if not for the cost
— mortality

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

I heard
death call
before seeing
its face
Far in
the distance
it sent
its embrace

Each sound
an omen
betrothed
deep inside
Announcing
the groom
awaiting
— the bride

(The New Room: May, 2025)

YEARS
into months
MONTHS
into weeks
WEEKS
into days
DAYS
into hours
HOURS
into minutes
MINUTES
into seconds
SECONDS
into moments
MOMENTS
— sublime

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

The bow of
God’s wrath
is restrung in
the dark
To target
injustice
and hate
as its mark
Each arrow
His judgment
of life
in the main
And striking
dead center
He frees us
— again

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

In the end
we die alone

In the end
no blade to hone

In the end
do Angel’s call

In the end
when rhythm stalls

In the end
which deck unstacks

In the end
our health attacked

In the end
we pray for more

In the end
but fate endures

In the end
one final change

In the end
whose face remains

In the end
the bonds break free

In the end
— one last decree

(Radnor Pennsylvania: May, 2025)

Can you hope
to guarantee
the truth
of conclusion

The paradox
of confirmation
the duality
of illusion

Can you swear
on ten bibles
only lying
on nine

With assurances
granted
before losing
— your mind

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Perception
is the potion
where pudding
holds the proof

The details
get bedeviled
Martini’s
all Vermouth

A good girl
or a bad girl
the wind
can blow both ways

Looking right
or looking left
the truth
— not on display

(The New Room: May, 2025)

“Handmaid of Patriarchy”  
the garden rezoned
Embattled virility
misogyny cloned
As Delilah revolts  
a new Samson on scene
One half of the whole
left to drown in the stream
Each genders new quotient
to minus the plus
A He without Her
— the destruction of us

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2025)

All the pure thinkers
are slave to the Poet
Their theories self-serving
whose quotients divide

With ‘facts’ that convict them
to prisons constructed
From every transcendence
— their numbers can’t hide

(Saint David’s Pennsylvania: May, 2025)

In their formative
moments
artists live alone
Sharing themselves
only when
the pain has dulled

In corners
of dark musings  
their spirit’s hide
Calling out  
whenever the lights go down
— and the rush is gone

(The New Room: May, 2025)

I had
all the wealth
And I had
all the fame
I had all
the glamour
One life
could contain

I had
all the friends
And I had
all the foes
That now sit
as equals
On the end
of my nose

I had
all these things
But one message
rings true
To have
and to hold
Is but folly
— adieu

(Rhymes From The Nursery: May, 2025)

The older
I get
the simpler
it seems

Each day
growing freer
divorced from
my dreams

Each year
brings the seasons
of Summer
through Spring

And months
in transition
new changes
they bring

The answers
I chased for
those questions
I asked

Rest quietly
dormant
in the future
and past

As time
now a mistress
no longer
a wife

My world’s
come full circle
in this magic
— called life

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

The loss of
each simple
thing
hurting the most
When drama
subsides
and time slows
to its worst
Your shadow
still living
inside of my
pain
To darken each
heartache
again
— and again

(The New Room: May, 2025)

Sebastian
couldn’t live
without saving
the walls
His paint
covering over
dire messages
scrawled

All passersby  
witnessed
each canvas
restored
Reframing
dark alleys
with hope
evermore

Sebastian
a warrior
of brush
and stroke fame
Graffiti
a pockmark
his quest
to disclaim

Alone
in his wander
where shadows
hold court
Each wall of new
slander
his palette
— retorts  

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

What stays
unwritten
silence claims
forever
— to remain unchanged

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Not so much
a lie
with little
truth to tell

Not so much
goodbye
with greetings
gone to hell

Not so much
romance
with feelings
dead or pawned

Not so much
to dream
with sleep
— bereft and gone

(Bryn Mawr College: May, 2025)

When verses
run dry
do you hide
in despair
When the Muse
is on fire
only ashes
you’ll bear
With silence
embedded
on each
empty page
Your fear
is the foundling
that kindles
— the rage

(Ronald McDonald House: May, 2025)

Trimming fat
off his soul
he searched
for the bone

With every
new slicing
his consciousness
honed

All waste in
the fire
to sizzle
and fry

Excesses
like smoke
rise forgotten
— incised

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Tall grass above
a sleeping dream
Hiding what
His promise deems

Embedded deep
within the blades
New whispers seed
as life conclaves

The sun to mirror
God’s new day
Each ray He grants
new hope in play

That rises softly
through night’s travail
An open petal
— as Grace prevails

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

First
Last
(and)
Always
— say something

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Do you have
enough scars
to help others
heal

Or wounds
that stay open
the past
uncongealed

Did you suffer
in silence
each moment
of pain

Did all hope
leave you orphaned
alone
and profane

Is your counsel
of value
when the weak
come to call

Can you see
through the trauma
and cushion
— their fall

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)