Kurt Philip Behm

Our Birthright (+2)

A proprietary hold on God,

religion does proclaim

 

Defining what we know inside

our souls will they reclaim

 

The Cross or Torah, Buddhist lore

each ritual decries

 

What can’t be owned or scripted pure

through centuries of lies

 

Divinity a birthright deigned

for those who search to find

 

What God embeds in every soul

—that structure can’t define

 

(The New Room: May, 2022)

 

 

Life Unbound

 

Waiting for life to come to me,

the clock ticked down to one

 

With barely but a second left,

my tendency to run

 

With nothing left but one last tick,

all motion seemed to stop

 

Perspective changed, then rearranged,

a lifetime on the spot

 

My eyes won’t blink, the fear too great,

of staying closed for good

 

As from a distant galaxy,

I finally understood

 

All life had boiled down to this,

eternity defined

 

When everything that ever was,

together crossed my mind

 

I left the past and future mired,

to breed and then deceive

 

And took this present life unbound

—unto my soul reprieved

 

(The New Room: May, 2022)

 

 

Home

 

At nineteen

I wanted to live in Colorado

Till that first weekend I spent

in Cheyenne

 

At twenty-five

I wanted to live in Montana

Leaving Yellowstone

as Glacier took my hand

 

At thirty

I wanted to live in Alaska

Within Denali

where the Kodiaks roam

 

But as the years have progressed

I discovered

All I ever wanted to be

—was home

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)