No Blank Degree (+2)

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)