The Rind (+3)

We breathe the same air

and split the same bed

We share a last name

in silent lament

The children are out

new grandchildren named

But frozen emotion

has left us both lame

The sins of the one

to the other are death

In terminal sorrow

we take our last breaths

Time has no answer

and not often kind

Our inner fruit rotten

—just leaving the rind

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)

Love Without Pain

Can you paint without color,

   can you think without language

Can you dance without music

—can you love without pain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Chamberlain Falls

Refusing to fight the major war,

the war based on principles,

the one we can win

We’re forced to fight a never-ending series

of political wars….

ones that we can only lose

We’re trapped in the middle of Appeasement River

and headed for Chamberlain Falls

terror awaiting in the rapids now ahead

Slowing down the current or rowing harder wont

save us, it only extends the time of our demise,

capitulation pulling us under toward the roar

As a country, we’re now in the middle of that river

arguing over who has the water rights….

arguing over whose paddle is best

Until we get off the river and back on dry land,

Chamberlain Falls will continue to pull

   —and Armageddon will continue to call

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2015)

Compression

Stackable living

hackable lives

On top of each other

like bees in a hive

Inside a box

hard corners to know

A neighbor above

a neighbor below

Stackable moments

fractional lies

The walls serve two masters

invasion implied

All differences measured

in bedrooms and floors

A blueprinted nightmare

its maze underscored

Stackable meaning

the truth wearing thin

Its elevator stuck

stairs covered in sin

The higher you climb

the farther you fall

Stackable living

—the death of us all

(Villanova Pennsylvania: February, 2018)