Kurt Philip Behm

Three For Monday (+1)

Poetry

 

Neither hobby

nor pastime

its grip ever

grows

 

Its hold on my

heart

through the drought

and the snow

 

Each word

that it sends me

each phrase

to impound

 

And blessing

the silence

my Savior

— resounds

 

(1st Book of Prayers: August, 2025)

 

Divine Wind

 

Shinto

or Buddhist

the Samurai

served

 

Their honor

and legiance

in blood

was preserved

 

The sword

as their mantle

and spiritual

Lord

 

Death

was their preference

dishonor

— abhorred

 

(Shinjuku Museum: October, 2003)

 

 

Betwixt & Between

 

Better or worse

those two oxymorons

Lying in wait

entrapping the weak

 

Lo  and Behold

they claim self-importance

Lo and Behold

thoughts watered and meek

 

Polar extremes

they float barely conscious

To lure you between them

and hold you quite mad

 

Bye after Bye

they muddle your choices

Bye after Bye

— good orphaned with bad

 

(Dreamsleep: August, 2025)

 

 

 

Poetic Endgame

 

Never complain

never explain

Life on the margins

others sustain

Freeing both ends

caught in the middle

Releasing the truth

— solving the riddle

 

(To Cole Porter: September, 2025)