Forward Is Not A March
Fall 2025

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 -