My strength
Is that I am
Fundamentally
Unscientific
Not subject to the
Dissection
Of consequence
Or category
And not at the
Mercy
Of the scholastics
And nihilists
Who spend their days
Trying to reprove
That the whole is equal
To the aggregation
Of its parts
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2019)
All Time Is Now
Release the hasp
Pull back the mask
The key has turned
Your face to learn
Remove the lid
Reach down amid
What’s hidden deep
—as secrets sleep
Confront the lie
The souls new stye
Wash clean the pain
With loves refrain
Commit your faith
In God remake
The time is now
—all time is now
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
From ‘The Book Of Prayers’
Dark Genius
A common man with bad intent
can damage and do harm
But a genius with an evil heart
—makes hellfire seem lukewarm
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Into The Night
Chasing the morning…
Out of the trees
Over the hill
Quixotic trapeze
Through the valley
Crossing the lake
Into the meadow
Time overtakes
A messenger calls
The cave now in sight
Daylight behind us
—into the night
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July,2016)
Now Mine To Keep
My first breath every morning…
a thank-you to the Lord
My heart beats then in tribute,
single note in heaven’s chord
My last breath every evening…
as I close my eyes to sleep
To thank him softly once again
—his grace now mine to keep
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
From ‘The Book Of Prayers’
When Will We Ever Learn
Liberals with a credit card,
Debts they’ll never pay
Mortgaging our future,
The present now ‘in play’
Conservatives with a checkbook,
The balance no concern
Hope now bouncing downward
—when will we ever learn
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
His Riches Claimed
A fool
A rich father
A poor boy
A dream
The theater
Of experience
One whines
The other screams
The reckoning
Once predicted
Is here
The world in flames
The fool
Just canon fodder
The boy
—his riches claimed
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Whose Blood
Is the right proprietary,
is eloquence ordained?
Who gets to decide,
who gets the acclaim?
The writer of the lyric,
the critic who disdains?
Who gets to call it Poetry
—whose blood leaves a stain?
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Scars Of Experience
How do you teach Poetics,
can all experience be forged
Maybe Emily will share her secret,
what did she explore
How can you convert a feeling,
into words beyond the main
How do they become a Poem
—without scars to mark the pain
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Aloneliness
Aloneliness,
thickening fog
haze to look out of
safe in your bog
Aloneliness,
creating the space
for Laura to fill
her words to embrace
Aloneliness,
time and again
taking me places
love’s never been
Aloneliness,
message so clear
thundering wasteland
silence in tears
Aloneliness,
faithful in pain
ever so near
my eyes close again
Aloneliness,
most trusted friend
you that I count on
—there till the end
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Something Beyond
There’s a sense
beyond five
A catalytic one
that ties
The five together
as one
In their mix
an explosion
An auspicious
moment
Allowing something
to remake
Allowing something
to become timeless
Allowing something
—to escape
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2016)
Heavenly Known
Art must be transcendent
to justify itself
It must leave its creator
and go somewhere else
Directing itself onward
in a life of its own
Its form to become formless
—once heavenly known
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2019)
Echoing Silence
The farther your emotion gets away from your art,
the wider your canyon becomes
Creation echoing off a towering wall
—coming back as a silence unsung
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2019)