Forward Is Not A March
1.
I will not be sleeping
No matter how practical it seems
Her necklace with a fang on it
Is hung so central above
The victorian-era fainting couch
Where I would’ve slept
The heat invisibly shines as a Cadillac does
Bubbling up like a pretentious baby
At night the crickets replace car horns in a subtle swap
And why, for years, I chased the loud sounds
Exploiting the lightning surge individuals, then eventually
The wand of imagination stopped my sputtering
The mystic was audibly absent
So instead of doing what is convenient on a napkin drawn
I return to observe the habit of a song
Which reaches you, then is shoved away
Only to return with an overlooked power
Migration, eventually considering such patterns
Swallow that miniature cry that wants another day
This time ignoring the wind and how it sways
While I gently close an exquisite door
Made of glass, translucent & modern
2.
All seems to hail growth and decay
Over anything else that’s known
Yet trickling is seen in the forever rain
onto the earth’s surface below
then taken back up for repeat in the sky
And the kids are quick to surmise
They will beat us at smarts
But wisdom is subtle
And a team of misfits solved the cube
So celebrated now they critique
the King’s new clothes
Is power boring yet?
For the simple speech is giant steps
Without harming a soul
Without missing a beat
With chords related in threes
I wait to see her before I leave
And have no complaints if the waves do rise
To reach my greater inclinations
On which I so heavily rely
I ask, ‘Aren’t I an eternal soul?’
Or more like a fire that we sat around
Until the last ember groaned
Still speaking with excitement
Of the last cattle call
3.
The futile and disruptive forces
Have a short shelf life
And teach the coming generation
‘This is what disaster looks like’
The anguish is going through the cycle
Feeling how forever wrong
And in some cases, yes
The time has come
Forward is not a march
Forward is a force
A contemplation of values
That precede one’s presence
And linger in one’s absence
‘Retreat and fear the wrath
Of an unsettled mind’
These are the eking words
That bankrupt the loveless
I surround myself with gypsy types
Watching a shattered ideal flail
I do not cheer
But rather measure how close we are
To letting go of what no longer suits us
The sincere peace trail
Without the drastic strain of
Constantly working on,
keeping up with false certainty
You have not failed to turn your gaze
to great and trust-worthy pursuits
And this is what to do & more than enough
4.
What yielded good results
An ant built a mountain in comparison
What’s done once can’t always be done again
But I see you have no limit
Growing up I was fascinated by Shaq
I just jaw-dropped about how he dominated
And it was also a game of collecting cards,
trading with friends, cheering greatness
One man’s ambition is another man’s link to other realms
Capabilities are being bent and surpassed
And this is what leaves one awe struck
Conquering the limit that is self imposed
A koan in action
I’m a percentage of that
As I roll a boulder on flat earth
Grass underneath
If I ever finish
Friends so long that i hardly write a number to it
The long achievement that is most suitable for a lonely planet
Raising your own questions and together witnessing
An entire mountain range uniquely built to wander
5.
Yearning for nothing is a difficult show down
And I’m center court with a deflated basketball
You know this isn’t my scene and I’ve said it for years
To make sure I wasn’t making it up
I stayed around and continued turning gears
The ultra grossly rich are definitely the problem
But our eyes are constantly averted by these scared puppeteers
Somehow they set forth the notion that scarcity is only a mindset
Only until all is leveled is that true, I don’t stop so easy
So many have to scurry for a shadow of a life & feel
A tear, the ways of nature sometimes shattering
Instead, fall asleep under an oak tree
As one rightly should
The lesser than balances the greater than
In a grand majestic duel
But beyond these noon day shoot outs
We have not risen above and it has been yeeeaars
The slowest in the west
As I wake up again and again
Thinking of our conversation
Until glory for all is filled,
My will is timid & searching
A pilgrimage for words that heal
6.
A candle lit goodbye
I will be made anew by these colors
When they turn to greens & blues
As toes balance the steps
Towards the country that is grand
There is a pursuit
A bounce from here to there
But a pillow awaits my fall
I’m in no shape to feel it at all
Joy rests as I rush with an umbrella
But I only get a glimpse
At the speed-limit-breaking
Tumbling by billboards
Squinting to read the fine print
I hang around the eternal, the now
Only to few is known that time doesn’t exist
This doesn’t rule out everything but it does a lot
Harmony can’t be found being all of us on the same word
But humanity is in fact grander when vaguely gathered
To speak in such various ways
Children of the universe we are
and whether liked or not, of the same name
- Fall 2025 -
1
Both earthly and beyond earthly
Nature the real and often times literal
Sorting and labeling yet here we still are
Dressed like a hologram
Thinking the deepest of thoughts
Gazing across the old pond
As we stroll the don’t trip edge
The commanding whisper of conscience
True as the water that touches shore
On a day when I’m able to remove the veil
And no longer dread examining the underpinnings
Of life, nature, home
From the billowing of Source smoke signals
All delicate and real things
With one foot on land and the other in water
In various degrees defined by their overall balance
Things can be all the way spiritual
But nothing strictly earthly remains
One is actually potent
The other an empty basket
All this feels true and who would ignore
The blatant staggering beauty
In whatever form we are able to find
2
It’s 8 again as I catch a glimpse of us in this timely manner
Words tumble like a waterfall and only sometimes become much
Shimmer in my thoughts towards you so we can meet here daily
With broad strokes you hatch out a plan that will eventually flutter
Change the outcome of this adventure by what is spoken, believed
Or to be more vague as I hop from brick to brick
I no longer wish to be a saving grace because I can’t
But I believed I could and so I tried and you saw that
I’ll probably dial it back like halfway and see where that lands
Thinking too much is like pressing pause
Rowdy and majestic this moment can be
A real anthem of progress that people can see
Shadows be shadows and light be light
When it’s time to let go of what once felt right
What is wrong and what is gone we feel deep in our bones
But what is taught as fact, to be unlearned, is a conquest of its own
Too fragile are most to walk these invisible bridges
Ignoring reality through distraction and distance
One day we’ll speak highly of our silhouette of a routine
So until 8 we’ll wait, when the moonlight starts to beam
3
A day to set aside scattered woes
A statue for an hour then buckling
The silence of a blanket of snow
Sends me to the coffee house mumbling
Right behind the lazy mountains I glance
Where their edge advances into an empty sky
As I prepare to return without potions
A forever glide towards a simple life
Books music and movies on repeat
Ignoring the weight of a heavy sigh
The difference between men and sheep
Rattle rattle the turn of the century
To be explained and understood
Not because we were so special
But partly because we're so wonderfully odd
Lifted by your arm up onto a plateau of awe
But the rock beneath us speaks
With a blatant motive to take away
The very balance we’re here to seek
4
A ball bounces round a room
Pop it will never do
But light as a feather
It travels towards the window
On a whisper
In a full breath
To taste the ocean
Without taking a step
Here ye, hear it all
The king may take a mighty fall
But travel leads me no longer to land
But to truth of heart and a voice that calls
In-between bites we will share what is new
In-between sips we will remember what is good
The corner stone is still to be built from
Although the colors are lacking
I would’ve just thrown it all away
But that’s more of a young man’s game
And an ill fit for a hopeful gentlemen
Your moment is high
Your moment is long in days
I rest knowing that you played your song
And it was built full of secrets
5
The written word
Like a titan lifting sounds
Clinking together
Probably not breaking
As I strolled around to grasp
A morning that wanders
with a silent swagger
Certainty and fortitude
Has this boring normal side
An unspoken look to your eyes
I’m a pattern, a woven rug
Suspending my senses
You take me a minute
Nearer it will bring
As a circle is a ring
And having nothing to do
But witness grandeur
6
Pile your thoughts with me
As we light one of those big fireworks
Big for no reason and smile run back
From the mild mayhem
Kiddos
Each droplet
From the faucet reminds me
The water is pure
I take my ration
I break my little bread
I fold the ingratitude into itself
This time will be different
My mind is different
How my eyes have softened
And no longer stare
But inquire the daisies of which way they lean
In the solemn days they are a beacon
A garden and a small yard
Where the grass is cut by scissors
7
Because we are points on the same hillside
Our view is similar peach sunset
Nice shoes relaxing under an umbrella
One of us wears blue sunglasses
The other wears orange
And we sit around
Speaking of objective colors
Dream we lift the well being of humankind
Onto a levitating block to heal
Eventually weightless it becomes
And true again to center