Kurt Philip Behm Poet Rhyme

The Verdict

In the judgment of ghosts
my hope is retried
Forgiven or not
their will to decide

To ever move on
or be damned here to stay
To wander my failings
mistakes on display

They fly through my present
back into my past
Not missing a nuance
of slippage I’ve cast

Returning my sentence
their jury unhung
Pronouncing the verdict
— my fate zero sum

********



Memory Lingers

Impropriety
the soul of wit
Audacity
its memory lingers
Incongruity
the leak that drips
Banality
— its bee unstingered 

*******

God’s Nation

At the country’s
bicentennial
I came 
of age

A hard bitten
patriot
and liberty
sage

Two hundred
years won
through blood
will and pain

To shine
in the glory
 God’s nation
— ordained

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

The Ivory Tower

Did you hear
your favorite student
when he spoke
his truth to power

Or when he challenged
what you said
high up
the ivory tower

Do you miss him now
that he has gone
into a world
unclaimed

And free of what
your words did spew
in pander
— false proclaimed

**********

Gears Enmesh

You can sulk
and brood
with Achilles heel
to sit detached in place

Or live in neutral
disengaged
to stay outside
the race

But one free choice
can change all that
to track uncovered
ground

When gears enmesh
to set you free
and turn your world
— around

(The New Room: June, 2026)

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