A resident of New York State for most of my existence, I have been writing for over 25 years.  I attend open readings around the Ulster, Orange, Sullivan and Dutchess counties.  My first book of poetry, The Grand Facade, is available through Amazon.

Flowers Of Pain

 Flowers Of Pain


From the seeds of despair

Understanding can grow

Displayed in gardens

To those who will never know


Those feelings

Hope distant they remain

Arranged for them

Flowers of pain


06/17/19

  2199 Hits
Tags:

I Am A Desperate Trophy

(Based on a roll of the Taylor Mali's Metaphor Dice that he did on Joh Fugelsang's "Tell Me Everything" on SiriusXM 's Insight channel, broadcasted February 13, 2019. The metaphor they chose was "I am a desperate trophy'. Each guest poet on that program recited a poem they made up on the spot. I decided to do the same on February 14, 2019, the day I listened to that show.)


I am a desperate trophy

Longing to be possessed

Praised and put on the mantle

Gazed and gawked at

Envied and admired daily

However, no one will compete

To win me...

I'm not a game worth playing.

  2594 Hits
Tags:

Haiku Oh-Two

Imagination

Oxygen of creation

Our breath... poetic

***********************************************

  2784 Hits
Tags:

The Straight And Narrow

Where am I now on the road that winds

Gatekeepers motioned to me

Urged me to enter their world

I denied impulse,

I buried curiosity--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Offers made through storybook eyes

On the shelves that keep

Pages turned toward me

Urged me to enter their world

I feigned interest,

I faked erudition--

Fought with conscience....

Still on the straight and narrow.


Dreams with hints dropped in my head

In the sleep that confines

Visions came up to me

Urged me to enter their world

I ignored prophecy,

I dissuaded symbolism--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Classroom courage made its stand

In the school that drains

Teachers lectured to me

Urged me to enter their world

I defied wisdom,

I decried knowledge--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Familial wars on neutral ground

In the house that hides

Sides cried to me

Urged me to enter their world

I disowned loyalty,

I dissipated love--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Crowding walls took their places

In the room that fears

Voices were bribing me

Urged me to enter their world

I resisted temptation,

I rejected greed--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Clean-cut saviors on their way

On the streets that hate

Psalms waved to me

Urged me to enter their world

I repelled faith,

I rebuffed salvation--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Sinful masters laid me down

On the bed that heals

Bodies unveiled to me

Urged me to enter their world

I protested lust,

I repudiated ecstasy--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow.


Where am I at this point

On the road that longs

Conscience answers me

Urged me to enter no world

I detested this invasion,

I revoked its license--

Fought with conscience....

Still on this straight and narrow...


Always on the straight and narrow.

  2751 Hits
Tags:

Coming To Terms

Balancing delicately on emotion

One more expression you'll tip

You felt too much up 'til now

How much more can you permit?


There are letters crowding a shoe-box

Waiting restlessly to make their trip

Do they speak of a long-dead past

To some allusions you haven't gripped


What keeps you from sending them

Why keep these words so tight-lipped

Come to terms with the fear, child

Sooner or later we all must sail that ship.


Pools of hate at your feet

Wrung from your desperate hands

They clench as you bend reality

In your head to fit your demands


The blood of your bitter torment

Flowing from the body of an icon

He is the target of your rage

The one you have seeked revenge on


Will his death seal the vault

Or would that add to the hole

All dying is temporary, my lady

Forever will last guilt within your soul.


Do you feel the loss of faith

That dwells under humiliation

There are no fruits on the tree

That was fed by your degradation


Do you feel a chill of remorse

For this script you have wrote

Will this evict all the demons

Be worthy of the time you devote


Consider the sweat on your brow

At what conclusion did you arrive?

Those feelings of hate are still there

All the labor-- the icon is still alive.


Reminders of the horrid past

Show up on your lovers' faces

Words meant for minor pain

Turn back some virulent pages


The ink is still fresh and clean

And the paper gleams flush white

From the margins a mist rises

You turn pale at this ominous sight


All she's done exposed in sky-writing

The message seen is still so unclear

Slowly you breathe in its meaning

But as words it doesn't come anywhere near.


Seas of disarray toss your mind

As this mystery grows ever vague

What you knew breaks its chains

Each piece falls away to stravage


Grasping for your scattered consciousness

Trying to assemble this evasive puzzle

All the pieces look the same shape

Perseverance and sanity is being guzzled


About to give up all dangling hope

The connection suddenly becomes plain

The answer lies within the victim

Time has come to end this outdated game.


The abuser was within the mind

Fists were fighting inside the brain

The fault was lying not in the scars

But wrapped and tied into a name


You made yourself the typical victim

Kept untold yesterday's violent truth

Held from others the whole story

That's when shame had secured its roots


At last the tale has been told

Here privacy will be guarded

Look around, this story's not unique

But its unveiling has only been started....

  3016 Hits
Tags:

2000 Dreams

Crimson carpet

Always unfurled

2000 dreams

Of Disney World


A fantasy

For wistful some

2000 trips

To the Magic Kingdom


Everyday with Belle and the Beast

In your honor they host a feast

Special guests Cogsworth and Lumiere

Mrs. Potts and Chip also there!


Crimson carpet

Always unfurled

2000 dreams

Of Disney World


2000 dreams

For one came true

What would you trade

For this to be

You?


2000 dreams of Disney World

2000 dreams of Disney World

2000 dreams of Disney World

For one came true


For one came true

2000 dreams of Disney World

It's a small world after all

It’s a small, small world!!


  2329 Hits
Tags:

Turning Ivory Into Glass

Come on, step into the light, let me take in one more sight

I shall miss you when you depart, but we have time before that starts

Come sit and let's talk awhile, all those roads and so many miles

We went through too much together, drained every sun, defied ill-weather

So the last thing I need to see is the sign of you leaving me

But, in time, this pain will pass while I'm turning ivory into glass.


Come here, let me stare a bit, especially when the moonlight hits

Haven't seen you this way before, always for granted.... but not anymore

Come closer, right into your eyes, so sky blue I could forever fly

Why didn't I notice this deep, this other world, this infinite sweep

So the last thing I had to know was how much farther I could go

But, in time, this pain will pass while I'm turning ivory into glass.


Come forth, tell me every secret, every silent joy, every last regret

We haven't talked for so very long, sometimes I felt you didn't belong

Come near, let me testify now: No one else ever knew how

How much I loved you here, hearing all my delights and fears

So the last thing I want to hold is the notion of stories left untold

But, in time, this pain will pass while I'm turning ivory into glass.


Come down, don't leave me alone, there's much more to be shown

Your all, we have never explored-- think of those minds we'd reward

Come back, we can begin anew, rewrite mysteries, change the clues

But, alas, I must let you fade, everything that must be was made

So the last thing I will allow is your freedom after these vows

Yes, in time, this pain will pass while I'm turning ivory into glass.

  2457 Hits
Tags:

Forget About...

Forget about

Red Wave conversion— 

Foster reduction of

The silent aversion.

  2559 Hits
Tags:

A Farrago Of Sentiments

Can't find my way around this house

The rooms are continually rearranged

Every morning I wake with the sun

More and more I feel further estranged


A copy of the floor plans, I copped

All the lines on the print were blue

So I keep playing this blind man's bluff

While I continue to wear two left shoes.


The animals rely on instinctive intellect

To perform their duties in this world

While I must subscribe to hit and miss

In order to have my role unfurled


Climbing trees with red herrings as leaves

Entering caves of suspicion with a strobe

Sailing questioning seas with concentric currents

Searching for home on an anamorphic globe.


The books I've read, poems I wrote

All in the name of defining the ego

If they were to tell me what and why

Their messages have all gone incognito


Looked to the sky and wondered why

The answers couldn't pour down as rain

No use in asking assorted gods for help

I don't want to know Andromeda's strain.


Still I sit within a room of open doors

Each one as jet-black dark as the next

Besides them all is a book of directions

It's written in Confidence-- I can't read the text


Slowly spinning, deciding which way to ad-lib

Any step I attempt might well be my last

So, I recommend to myself to do nothing

Keep hidden, wait for this moment to pass.


Haven't found my place in the working-class

Would never let some job define me

Maybe it's because I retreated from them

Before responsibility set sight upon me


Pink-slips or conflicts were never a problem

Unless you count the ones from within

Always looked over my shoulder for eyes

People make so many judgements with them.


Is satisfaction truly within the grasp

Of those seeking this holiest grail

Some will have reached its golden rim

While most will fall short of failure


For me, satisfaction will never exist

So, maybe I'll get the next best thing

Go out and claim the ceiling and floor

That finding some meaning will bring. 

  2334 Hits
Tags:

Midnight, Star

Saxophone plays a sultry tune,

Two lovers make images in the moon,

Autos trace lines of the highway

As I stand alone in the gateway....


All is peaceful and serene

Upon this lonely stage,

I'm afraid to get down

To upset this proud heritage....


You, midnight, have graced my skyline

With a blanket of cool ebony,

Made with the finest blends of silk

Only worthy of one with your celebrity.

  2485 Hits
Tags:

The Red and Blue

Spoken words of wisdom

The Sermon On The Mount

Took a vicious right cross

Now it's down for the count


Morality now wears

A bloody crown of thorns

While the red wave riders

Unveil their hungry horns


The new order emerges

Through sulfur, flames and bile

One face grins acceptance

Other feigns denial


Agents of hate and scorn

Evangelical glee

The Sermon On The Mount

Means not a thing to thee


Quote the Bible daily

Justify the Crusade

See the bodies of Love

On pikes in a parade


Snowflakes descend silent

But moments to decide

If the red wave riders

Will rule the countryside


One voice can turn the tide

Best time to sing the blues

Sing loud in harmony

Time has come to change hues


07-02-18

  2255 Hits
Tags:

Hugs

She hugs me, friendly

In my arms, the universe

For a moment, mine.


06-16-18

  2379 Hits
Tags:

The Great Divide

The Great Divide

In what truth do you abide

Along the Great Divide?

They're different everyday


Which color are you beside

On the Great Divide?

Each has a shade of gray


How many laughed or cried

At the Great Divide?

Can't keep either at bay


How many have been denied

Escaping the Great Divide?

Count how many still stay


Is there a map or a guide

Through the Great Divide?

Some will lead you astray


How many staffers have lied

During the Great Divide?

Their buts clog the ashtray


Who's felt shame or pride

For the Great Divide?

It depends on the day


Who is the Jekyll and Hyde

In this Great Divide?

All faces on display


Which wave should one ride

Upon the Great Divide?

The one above the fray


Who will take the big stride

Across the Great Divide?

One without feet of clay


How many leaders have tried

Changing the Great Divide?

None—afraid to lose pay


Anyone measure how wide

Is this, our Great Divide?

Well, this I will say...


The Great Divide can cease

By opening our minds and hearts

Maybe, then, we will realize

As people, we're not that far apart—


Some are trying hard to

Make us fear our differences

And to be sure we will

Forget our similarities.

06-23-18 

  2523 Hits
Tags: