Lost Sounds (+3)

Written fragments

Broken songs

Stepping stones

To hope beyond

Music absent

Long at bay

Vagrant notes

  —last wish to play

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)

Twins Of Siam

You stir it one way and they the other,

  but the mixture stays just as hot

You attack their motives and they attack yours,

  while the contents boil and rot

“It needs to be this way”… the other side revolts,

  “Your mind’s faulty with avarice and greed”

The pot has simmered; the broth is thick,

  and its bottom not easy to see

A mutual exclusion, first left then right

  a feast—all soul’s consumed

With spoon or fork, its offering slick

  when the bowls come out at noon

In single file, day turns to night

  pointed talk with nothing said

Both cupboard’s bare, two rat’s within

  guarding their last crust of bread

When the final story is written and told

   of what in concert you destroyed

A drum will beat, zero-sum complete

  leaving you soulless—but still conjoined

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June,2016)

My Mojo Light

(Blues Poem #12)

My days and nights

 death in between

 trouble in front—behind

The devil hijacking my

 fondest dream

 trouble in front—behind

She said she loved me

 then said it twice

 trouble in front—behind

The day I got fired

 she turned to ice

 trouble in front—behind

I pass out stoned

 and wake up hard

  trouble in front—behind

With time my warden

 and sentence scarred

 trouble in front—behind

My children’s names

 now others call

 trouble in front—behind

The doctor warns…

 “Not one more fall”

 trouble in front—behind

Excuses inked

 across my chest

 trouble in front—behind

The good got better

 but the worst got best

 trouble in front—behind

My eyes stay swollen

 my mojo light

 trouble in front—behind

The river rolling

 the falls in sight

 trouble in front—behind

(Villanova Pennsylvania: August, 2018)  

Morning In Your Eyes

Day surrounds your memory,

  as evening frames your smile

But what I most remember

 —is morning in your eyes

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June, 2016)