Go to school,
and load your gun
The man is coming
the cradle shunned
Do your homework,
obey the rules
The exam’s been written
that dunce a fool
Go to school,
and stack the deck
Each grade a face card
full house respect
Dot your I’s,
and cross your T’s
Your promise written
—no blank degree
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)
The Double Edge
Cowardice and bravery
Not either/or
But different levels of…
Valor and shame
A swinging door
Whose facings change when swung
A foil to confound
The poets dream
With glory and disdain
Bravery and cowardice
Not zero-sum
—but often look the same
(Villanova Pennsylvania: May, 2016)
Their Peace Like A Blanket
To my home, the words take me
each calling by name
Tearing walls from around me
passion free, unrestrained
Their visions at midnight
have lulled me to sleep
Their message when troubled
my nightmare to greet
Through the long and the short
it’s the words once again
Like the tide on the shore,
they return as a friend
And lately I’m hearing
an echoed refrain
From verses long distant
offloading my pain
These words that I hear
more whisper than shout
And what I once questioned,
I no longer doubt
Through my voice they’re respoken
to shield me from harm
Their peace like a blanket
—under which I am warm
(Villanova Pennsylvania: July, 2018)