Everyone has to be somewhere
the lucky get to choose
Fate can smile or fate can frown
the tally win or lose
Everyone has to be somewhere
unless they’re in-between
Places caught beyond now and then
—with destiny unseen
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
Memory Past
Pain is the drug
On which many O.D.
Its mainline most fatal
All feelings to bleed
With birth its first victim
And death waiting last
Hiding deep in the shadows
—of all memory past
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
Ink Spilling Divine
The wild talk of the wounded
words pointed and sharp
The casualties mounting
dead noted and marked
Each phrase a revival
ink spilling divine
The wild talk of the wounded
—dark shadows to rhyme
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
Nature\'s Call
The winter wind was blowing
through an autumn of despair
A reckoning was coming
and now carried on the air
The winter wind was blowing
as the leaves began to fall
Revealing what was waiting
—buried deep in nature’s call
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
To Rene\'
I don’t care where I’m going
I know where I am
I’m not worried about the future
I’ve never been to the past
I’m not sad about what’s missing
only joyful for what’s present
I am here and not there
—and my words make it last
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Or
Could or couldn’t
Would or wouldn’t
Should or shouldn’t
Can’t or would not
Does or doesn’t
Was or wasn’t
Has or hasn’t
Can or cannot
Must or mustn’t
Have or haven’t
Are or aren’t
Is or is not
Did or didn’t
Had or hadn’t
Do or then don’t
—you will or will not
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
In This Moment
I used to write early
but now I write late
I used to seek love
but now avoid hate
I used to be captive
of what comes to be
Until time was destroyed
—and its lies were set free
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Second Chances
I most value today
what I used to walk by
And stop to revisit
what trailed from behind
Those moments once squandered
when offered again
In joyous acceptance
—I embrace from within
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
Alone Again
Do all relationships
come to an end?
Through death or disorder
both stranger and friend
What life doesn’t alter
does dying reclaim?
Alone in the vacuum
—alone once again
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
The Girl I Wed
Thank you for the confusion Lord,
thank you for the doubt
Thank you for those unsure moments
when I could neither whisper nor shout
Thank you for the people Lord
who loved me or hated in vain
But thank you most for the girl I wed
—who took away my pain
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
‘From The Book Of Prayers’
To Leapfrog All Paradox
Are you a sexual being
if you choose to remain celibate
Are you famous or forgotten
if you live in a cave
Are you democrat or republican
if you’re never to vote
Are you black or white
in the eyes of the blind
Are you young or old
in the heart of a child
Are you rich or poor
when everything’s gone
Are you healthy or sick
when the gallows claim you
Are you guilty or innocent
when the crime is absolved
Are you friend or foe
as the last man to fall
Are you committed or unsure
when the questions retract
Can you find what’s been hidden
with the object removed
Can you cry out in silence
when the noise overuns
Can you travel in place
to unknown destinations
Can you swear to the Lord
with all prophecy in doubt
Can you still love your children
when no longer their father
Can you leapfrog all paradox
—to find your way home
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
No Turning Back
The earth cracked in Nepal
with fire and shame
And thousands lay dead
on the mountains and plains
Its crust was ripped open
its heart now exposed
And lives were then claimed
from a heaven deposed
The story for mystics
a legend say some
The day nature demanded
for things that we’d done
Her climate infected
her sky ringed in black
Our future as payment
—with no turning back
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
Memory\'s Return
Looking out is different
than looking back
Wishes get hardened
with a backward glance
All hopes reversing
with time exposed
The aspirant trail marked
—by memory’s return
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2015)
The Future Closed
Coffee Shop traveler
Caught
Between the beginning
And the end
Revolving
On a stool
Of broken dreams
Waiting
For a check
That never comes
Holding
A twenty-four hour vigil
For all who pass through
Dreading
A future sign that reads
—WE’RE CLOSED
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2015)
In Tribute
Poetry is the effect
never the cause
A living remembrance
—of a legacy spawned
(Villanova Pennsylvania: January, 2019)
The Prison
This prison I’ve created…
totally self made
This world I’ve evaded
the fodder I trade
The reward is the punishment
for not taking part
Old scars not to heal
as I wait in the dark
The consensus, the polling,
all truth on the run
Their shadows of misery
no day in the sun
The price of the membership
an eternity black
With dealers and charlatans
all looking back
This prison I’ve created…
by rejection self made
This world I’ve evaded
the fodder I trade
No verity in circumstance
my horse trails the cart
These bars I look out from
—a last lonely heart
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2015)