The greatest pleasure
the absence of pain
The greatest freedom
relinquishing gain
The greatest message
the one from inside
The greatest secret
the hardest to hide
A dollar given
a blessing earned
A lesson taught
a lesson learned
A truth in waiting
a lie untold
A promise whispered
a pledge on hold
When voices call
the doubtful pander
When questions breed
they’re left unanswered
When lost in space
there’s room for motion
When Venus reigns
new love’s devotion
Written in code
the warning’s hidden
Freeing the words
— tomorrow given
(The New Room: December, 2025)
Escaping the prose …
I hid in the verse
My mind to compose
instead of converse
Defying description
I sang through the notes
And placed my inscriptions
in lyrical rote
I chose to hear music
over reasons again
To dine with the mystics
where forever begins
But when forcing my pen
back to stories untold
The Muse through the darkness
— sets free the kobold
(Villanova Pennsylvania: December, 2016)
Beginnings
unending
Each moment
befriends
Untethered
unfettered
Intuity
mends
Connection
in motion
Where starts
never stop
Time lost
in fruition
From bottom
— to top
(Dreamsleep: July, 2025)
The long and tortuous road that
You travelled which brought you here
Explains the position you are at
And influences your hopes and fears.
Sometimes you travelled in circles,
Sometimes you followed straight paths,
Sometimes you went in a semicircle
Before returning to life’s long path.
But whatever has happened to you,
Remember that you affected your fate
When you decided your dreams could never come true;
Then started living the life you hate.
So, maybe it is time for you to decide
To break free from fate’s whirlpool and stop
Being the person you yourself deride
Knowing in your soul that you are not.
It may not be too late for you to be
The person that you should have been.
Maybe now is the time for you to free
The ghosts of your dreams trapped within.
So, mobilize creativity that you’ve neglected,
And plan your life forward from here.
Because life is too precious to be wasted,
And time has become too dear.
She laid her emotions on a pyre.
Took a torch and lit a flame.
A gust of wind kidnapped them,
Taking them into the sky.
Watching as her desires flew away.
A smile hinted in her eyes.
Life is about suffering
—acceptance brings peace
(The New Room: October, 2022)
I used to be locked
In a metal cage
I never saw the day
But I always prayed
I used to be locked
In a metal cage
I always had fear
And open rage
The time is up
I've come so far
I have to let go
Of the metal bars
Seasons greetings
Time has passed
Look out sun
I'm free at last
when the sun sets and quiet is restored
deepest within we feel it strike a chord
zen empowers hands us back reins of time
when our soul understands faint bells will chime
letting loose delusional connections
setting our hearts free from dark obstructions
reversal to inner peace for our mind
universal truths there for us to find
aching for harmony serenity
breaking all confines to eternity
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
You got me remembering
Smiling like I just can’t see
I’ll hold you close
Branches to your tree
But it keeps dissolving
Washing the sunshine with rain
I can’t temper each thunderstorm
It’s like I’m circling a drain
If you want me
Stop letting me go
I know you’re strong
But can’t I just have a little hope
You’re weaker then I thought
Trying not to feel the same
You’re not vacant like you claim to be
But you’ll end up alone and with only you to blame
I can’t unsee these colors
Forbidden fruit tastes good to me
I want to draw outside the lines
Let you show me how it could be
Paper thin I can see through it
My watercolors are beginning to fade
Once all trace of me is gone
Will you try to write another story in
I’ve got my head pounding
From banging against your wall
Pulling up my expectations from the ground
There’s no hiding now
You must just tell me what I want to hear
I don’t need to hold back all the things I want to say
Is it your heart or your head that has you running away
With broken wings like bullet struck birds,
She delivered to him these final words.
~Freeing Her Tangled Soul~ A poem by me.
Your dangerous gazes of serenity which
served my aching eyes as primary sources
of remedy now transformed my mystic
pupils into microscopically shattered
particles of hazardous glass and ageless
grazes, scars carved and crafted artistically
with your sharp perfidious razors.
Feelings which filled and fanned my
frowning heart with cool forest-berry like
breezes now buried beneath uncontainable
blood boiled streams silently yet violently
imploding through my fragile veins like
detonated vibrational waves as volcanic
tears erupt from the deepest and darkest
valleys behind my retinas. Spilling
enchantingly beautiful rivers of fiery lava
which patiently erode the glittery sparkle
as they ooze and simmer across the surface of
my flowery cheeks pasting historic
memories of venomous broken promises
where my story will now lie, stripped from
its fabricated disguise...there in its
complete truth. A pure soul once tangled
up in the ropes of your deceitful eyes.
tonight i stand so still
overlooking to view of land and hill
i then get my beach chair from the trunk and move closer
i am joyfully overwhelmed and will never come down
this is what i waited fifteen years to return to
my joy is in the safety deposit box of my mind now
if you try to take away my key for your own selfish intentions, a storm will treat you like its final destination
the splendor of an essence, delicate yet
firm is called
woman…
awed by her mystery through years,
thirst of rivers and shorelines never knew
her meaning,
her perfume and poison
mixed with elixir cloaked in legends
which trace her tears, taste all maiden songs
and still cannot touch her, own her
absence, presence--
many men crush this feminine generosity,
trampled, demeaned like a wilting flower
but she is an eternal prayer, rising from
violence and domesticity-
this is woman…
bequeath your shrines primitive or medieval
you are timeless,
give those who have one bare minute
a last glance of your soul’s courage
above, under and beyond
Mary's firm panels of heaven,
for despite any human cruelty, she prevails.
We all have a flash
Of a sense of wonder
Now and then-
A moment in time
A person, place, or thing
Or even a PS contest
That inspires motivation
Oh, when it happens
I try to capture it's image
Its sounds, it's smells
And once I feel it
Really feel it vividly
It'll lead me right back
To my imagination
Then I write furiously
Painting my poetry of words
Freeing my creativity
And emerge with my triumphant
Accomplishment
FREEING MY LOVE
Poetry is flying fish
Over a waterfall
It is words stuck in
An ancient spells book
Kept under lock by time
I tap into the recesses of
My brain
I find the key
To seek out the book and free
My love, poetry
I realize it doesn’t need the key
To be free
Just expression of it frees it
So here I am doing so
Letting it fly out of my mind
To fill the world’s emptiness.
So many words competing.
Floating around in my brain.
Jumbled word of nonsense.
Waiting to be ascertained.
Unscrambling words unsought.
Emotions not yet explained.
Words need to be released.
Feelings I can no longer retain.
Writing my thoughts into verses.
Freeing me from mental fatigue.
Provoking responses in others.
Penning tales of intrigue.
Writing is the essence of my soul
Conveying my manifestations,
From drama to laughter, even tears.
Bringing me total satisfaction.
01/08/2013
For Russell Sivey's contest, "Poetry About Poetry"
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