Best Haverford Poems
Is morality an end point,
or a journey to begin
Are right and wrong just bookends placed,
or what then lies within
All Ethical persuasion,
to attain or just desire
Whose end result will never come
—enflamed without the fire
(Haverford Pennsylvania: July, 2019)
Is there a direction to the universe,
without the polar caps
The equator gone as space expands,
looking forward—looking back
Does today become tomorrow,
as tomorrow self destructs
Are the questions left by law unasked,
when the answers run amuck
Can our thoughts be put in limbo,
can our feelings lead the way
To what is known beyond the light,
illusions cast away
And if just this moment matters,
and the prophets all were right
The doorway back to who we are
—in dreams we’ll dream tonight
(Haverford Pennsylvania: June, 2019)
The finer you draw your measurements,
the further away you fall
Each number squared and time compared,
deafens out the call
Your techno-dialectic,
data piled upon itself
A trash heap at the deadest end
—where folly stacks unfelt
(Haverford Pennsylvania: July, 2019)
With one pen in the inkwell,
eternity got wet
The words to dance and laugh and pray,
phrasing’s still unmet
With one pen in the inkwell,
the future kissed the past
The moments now, the moments then
—Siamese at last
(Haverford College: January, 2021)
Everyone’s life is tragic,
but who calls out the score
The Jester or the Hangman,
the Undertaker sure
Everyone’s nights are haunted,
when sleeping with the Muse
Each dream a wanton barter
—your memories to lose
(Haverford Pennsylvania: May, 2020)
Silver lining happiness
though there
not often seen
In many shades of inference
ignoring red
and green
Slight handed and implicit
though felt
still out of view
Beneath the veil resplendent
and known …
to only you
(Haverford College: September, 2023)
What you ask me to deny,
I in many ways affirm
The truth will not belie
what your apprehension spurns
Believing in myself
and the voice that speaks within
I cast new seeds into the air
—and beckon the four winds
(Haverford College: January, 2021)
How do you balance
the kind and the cruel
The good and the bad
of life’s golden rule
As reason pulls tightly,
treason pulls back
Living in conflict,
together intact
Tragic, comedic,
while often as both
Angels and Demons
commingle betrothed
A savior, destroyer,
calling our name
A garden of riches
—caught in the flames
(Haverford College: February, 2021)
Stranded on the island
of your professed beliefs
Anchored in the promise
of a new tomorrow
Each wave a stark reminder
of the choices that you made
Your faith inside a bottle
—the tide unclear
(Haverford College: January, 2020)
Capsules of time…
no beginning or end
The view from without,
the view from within
Defining the space,
transporting the hours
Moment by moment
—again and again
(Haverford College: October, 2020)
A painting will never love you back,
like a woman or a child
An opera may cause your heart to sing,
then leave you twice beguiled
Platonic zeal may fill the hours,
a pleasant interlude
But requited love will change your life
—and end your solitude
(Haverford Pennsylvania: September, 2020)
Do nothings
wth tenure
poseurs sublime
Their barrels
sit empty
coated
with lime
The space
they take up
much better off
closed
For those
they have
poisoned
— Hades to know
(Haverford College: April, 2024)
I remember the day
you borrowed my pain
“Take it,” I told you
no need to explain
It’s shopworn and battered
each scar duly earned
Its weight a true burden
of prophecy spurned
Then when you’ve finished
the torture complete
Find a new soul
to will it discrete
But no matter what happens
or how much you cry
This loan is forever
—forever goodbye
(Haverford College: January, 2024)
Stalking every dream
calling me from sleep
A Yeti of the frozen night
I drove the pitons deep
Climbing over hope
belaying every wish
The tracks it leaves — perdition bound
to wander in the mist
(Haverford Pennsylvania: May, 2024)
I met her
on the boardwalk ramp
and said ...
“You Have Nice Eyes”
The Gypsy Lady
fixed her gaze
my hand in hers
replied ...
“White hates black
and black hates white
their fear right now
forbids
“Division preys
to rule the land
fate drifting
on the skids
“But just remember
this one thing
if we are
to survive
“Coffee colored kids
will reign
to save our souls
— demise”
(Haverford College: February, 2026)