A manifesto in verse. — We spend our days in verse and reason out the thoughts that spin within, without, and through our heads of living stone; the hopes and doubts that color us: from rainbows through the blues. We render faithfully. We bleed in ink and spread ourselves in calligraphic gore to save the splash before…

When you randomly think of someone from a distant chapter of your life. — Out of the blue today, I thought of someone I hadn’t thought of in at least two decades. Here’s how I got there. I was helping my Mom with one of her Amazon delivery runs, when I thought about finding a gym with a pool. Getting into a pool would…

A Sonnet — Observe the rainbow weft, its many hues arranged into a perfect, lovely shape even the colors others might excuse, dismiss, or throw away. Now we escape. If you are wandering in lonely lands, or driftless seas of dark, a brilliant light rewrites the story. So you raise your hands and stand together! Fight the hopeful fight of being…

Don’t trust Facebook apps to tell you what your name means. — I have a very random and very specific pet peeve. I absolutely hate those Facebook apps that people of a certain age and religious affiliation are so fond of using, the ones that allegedly tell you what your name means. They seem to be attached to some kind of random…

Everything is cyclical. — It’s been a long, hard . . . Well, I was going to say year, but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s been more than a year. It’s been a few years, really. But this last year has been especially rough. Part of it has been moving back to California and…

A Sonnet — I hope you see the stars in splendor, love; the darkest nights reveal the multitudes, the glory of the Milky Way above these diamonds with their grace and attitudes unique in heaven high. I watch with you from far away. The shadows swallow us in pain and glory both. There is no blue, no sunshine. Only dots…

A Sonnet — after Margie Pearl. Love holds the door. Though some will walk away, the choice remains. We do not bolt or slam, but keep the faith against a hopeful day when they walk through. We do not curse or damn though damning’s easier; appease the pain and let the bitterness cleave through our stars. It’s easier to…

A Poem — for Loren Mae, sit tibi terra levis. A year is gone and I can barely breathe recalling you. The memory, though sweet devours me. And I am wholly lost to recollect the years we loved and grew our disparate ways. The roots had spread afar and carried us from love to strangerdom (or close enough), like…

A Sonnet — The stars are slipping far from human hands. Though they may last a night, a million years, the cosmic wind is blowing them, as sand, away and yet away. So shed your tears: entrust them now unto the astral glow, that they may underwrite the memory of these uncertain years. The stars will know of you and…