The dirty laundry
of democracy
Near impossible
to clean
You bask in freedom
until it’s gone
Whose nightmare kills
the dream
Warts and pimples
in plain view
Perfection
for the sage
To govern
as the Lord decrees
Our liberty
uncaged
To make those choices
for yourself
And pay the price
be damned
Instead of letting
tyrants rule
To serve
— at their command
(Villanova University: September, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, freedom,
Form: Rhyme
Perpetual moments
the key
to existence
Memory
your biggest
foe
Blocking
the path
to future promise
Lapsing
forgetfulness
grows
Time an illusion
a crutch
for the weak
To hobble
and stumble
in constant retreat
This instant
recurring
when chosen at will
Where Poets
and Prophets
— forever instill
(Villanova University: July, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, time,
Form: Rhyme
Walking across
a college campus
classes done till Fall
I hear those lessons
never taught
on winds that truth recalls
The questions that we
used to prize
now locked away in files
To favor dogma’s
jagged edge
— in deaf self-serving bile
(Villanova University: July, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, education, freedom, truth,
Form: Rhyme
Trying to make some sense of it all
but ready to begin
my exit from this fated tryst
with baggage worn and thin
One last goodbye is all I leave
for you and you alone
who held me through the darkest nights
— my home away from home
(Villanova University: July, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, lost love,
Form: Rhyme
Poets
who cry
Jesters
goodbye
Alone
in the dark
Old heartaches
to mark
Time
closing in
Memories
thin
Whispers
and tears
Finality
— near
(Villanova University: June, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, time,
Form: Rhyme
I’d gladly take
one verse
ill written
Than a tome
explicit
with words
unfelt
I’d gladly take
one moon
still distant
Than a sunrise
hidden
by rain
that pelts
I’d gladly take
one real
good tiding
Than a score
of praises
that slap
my back
I’d gladly take
one heart
on fire
Than a million
minds
no souls
— attached
(Villanova University: June, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, passion,
Form: Rhyme
A higher
but hidden presence
than God
Surrounds his nature
eternity’s
pod
Existing over
and deep
within
Its seminal essence
forever
begins
Averse to our choosing
and freedom
blind
Professing nothing
but itself
in kind
And blacker
than the
blackest hole
Obverting time
remains
— untold
(Villanova University: May, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, god,
Form: Rhyme
Neuroscience
takes a world class meal
grinds it into bits
and tries to convince us
— its taste has improved
(Villanova University: April, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, mental health, science,
Form: Free verse
The day you
discover
that it’s you
who makes it all right
Is the day you
uncover
what destiny holds true
— and prophecy foretold
(Villanova University: March, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, self,
Form: Free verse
Conspicuous
by his absence
Entrenched
in his abeyance
Condemned
in his reluctance
All feelings
askant
Forgiveness
but a carrot
From a garden
long estranged
Those closest
to his exit point
Bereft
— and unclaimed
(Villanova University: January, 2025)
Categories:
villanova, family,
Form: Rhyme
Truth
not a dictum
of majority
Credence
more pointed
abhorring a crowd
Its tenets
relentless
called from its slumber
To censor
the many
— its voice zero sum
(Villanova University: September, 2024)
Categories:
villanova, truth,
Form: Free verse
Music ...
weaves through
my memory
its fusion
sublime
Wrapping
each vision
tight
in harmony’s
vine
Music ...
filling
the din
where the silences
troll
Each thought
plays a note
in a
symphony
— whole
(Villanova University: June, 2024)
Categories:
villanova, music,
Form: Rhyme
Is your house built out of certainty
are the walls made thin or stout
Is your mind filled up with questions
do you live in fear or doubt
Is your spirit free or servile
is your will unchained or slave
Is your heart the trowel you build with
and love
— the bricks you lay
(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)
Categories:
villanova, emotions,
Form: Rhyme
Living alone
in quantum space
vibrations
dually churn
Hiding behind
a simple rhyme
their essence
undiscerned
Turned into words
exposed at last
where time and
memory join
Feigning the praise
for something they’re not
disparaged
— and purloined
(Villanova University: May, 2024)
Categories:
villanova, words,
Form: Rhyme
Before I knew the answers
life was one big question
Wonder hid round every turn
laughter as my Muse
As answers came the questions left
each day like that before
Laughter but an echoed wish
wonder lost — unfound
(Villanova University: April, 2024)
Categories:
villanova, poems,
Form: Free verse
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