Wisdom from the Night Sky
Published in Poetically Magazine: Raison D'Être, July 2023
Celestially aware they’re not alone, The countless stars pay homage to the sun As though the brilliance was their very own: It takes one to know one. Because our time on earth is deadly short, Let friendship be the first and last resort. Though memories are a tangle of distraction, They soothe us with nostalgic satisfaction. Genius is expressed in every guise; When yours appeared it still induced surprise. Let life and love become the son and daughter, Who stir the dormant psyche of still water. Deeply silent is the soul at birth. But clamorous assaults of joyless mirth So strike the spirit much to its chagrin, That finally the frenzied world breaks in. The metaphor of being deaf and blind Means likewise "Clear the clutter of your mind."
The Resistant Pyre
Published in POETICS: Volume I, January 2023
Thursday night, or to be direct, a time that caused me to reflect An intimate moment with my sanity hanging from a wire. Find me placid, partly pleasing, with my hand a stress ball squeezing, Awake in bed, seldom sneezing, easing back from feeling dire. “The sickness leaves me,” I observed, “teasing back from feeling dire.” Still, within me, burning fire. As I tried to douse my spirit, wanting bliss or being near it, Her eyes appeared, as if to fear it, fear my leaving from her mire. My malady was of the heart - I should have known that, were I smart, Yet now each thought makes up a part - part of a resistant pyre. The guilt I feel deftly prevents me from tearing down this pyre, Battling me like counter-fire. And her spurious scent unsettles my senses like metals Rubbing my skin - numbing my logic with how she takes me higher. “No more of that,” I whisper, “at last, become her resistor. A new future captivates bringing me back from feeling dire. The bright future captivates bringing me back from feeling dire.” She’s not it - there’s no more fire.
Time's Promise
What better use for words than to inspire; It is not by chance desire rhymes with fire. Quickly think to the lessons of the past And note that the struggle surely won't last. Then, waking with the odds and ends Of dreams, we can justly say "Let us fall into our future In the same quite astonished way." For time, who holds us caught In her arms, has one secret to tell: Though uncertain today, The future will surely love us as well.
Gods and Vanity
The hours we spoke, oblivious to time, were ticking away the evening in rhyme; At subtle pace, you wrought my spirit free To counter you in poetry. Ambrosia tastes of figs and wine apart; Who gave you power it employs to vainly rob me of my poise, And, through grace, let you earn my art?
Willing Hostage
Permit me an outlandish truth to share: In the heart affairs, we're all magicians Masters of shining a lantern for visions That often cover the truth with its glare. Under the surface, just below the waves, Our spirit, reflected, shows what it craves. How oft our illusions end as our plight When we had so readily cast that first light.
Nonfiction
They say that all futures come to a crawl. That origins set are once and for all. But where are they now, the former faces, when surely that time comes and erases? No singular image stays just the same; The page has been turned with no one to blame. Trust and care are just the tips of our range, But life's one permanence seems to be change.
