nevertheless hope springs eternal,
especially after listening
to Vice President Kamala Harris
and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
speak at the The Liacouras Center
1776 North Broad Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19121
on the evening of August sixth,
two thousand and twenty four.

Woke up one bright morning
with a vision in my head
A catastrophic warning
all my friends were dead
No one seemed to notice
but the sky had turned to red
An atomic age was dawning
the despots all had fled
The people who remained
all were filled with dread
The howling and the wailing
it was more than I could bear
The people in the city streets
all were filled with despair
Their homes had been demolished
it seemed that no one cared
Blood ran in the gutters

A single grain of sand,
Droplets of rain that land.
Or a tiny little person,
To take hold of my hand.

The briefest waft of scent,
A view serene and pleasant.
Or a most thoughtful thing,
That I give as a present.

A beating heart,
A last breath departs.
Or everlasting love,
When binding our hearts.

The smallest of chance,
Life awesomely enhanced.
Or a miracle from above,
In the puzzle of life's romance.

A severe sinister wind blew past stirring me
from the green grounds to the house it flew.
The clouds above were black with ominous gloom
while pregnant with moisture they gathered and grew.

retrieving the morning paper from the stoop
one look at the headlines, and I put it back.
Many more school shootings, in this state,
How did things get so depressingly out of wack?

Maybe in the next life
we'll be birds...
free as the breeze,
watching the golden hour
from our favorite tree,
snuggling close in the winter months
in our nest made from the bones
of this lifetime

It breaks me
To see you
Drowning in
A shallow pool
Of doubts

You hide
So no one
Sees a
Flawed
Operating
System

Oh, I wish
I could
Factory reset
Your mind
To erase
Corrupt files

Your ability to
Go on when
Most trip
Over shadows
Gives hope
To souls
That were on
Their last sip

I beg you to
Pour out worries
Till the clouds
Flee from
The sun

Fear is
Just a fool
With a
Megaphone

On a beach day
a family gathering play
of witnessing scenery

Capture of the ocean view
chasing the surfing tides
in a speeding race

A paint of clear
crystal vivid image
linger with memory

Embrace in a
a long distance
of a roller display

Carry the blue
fresh sweet of
fragrance spray

Come with a crest rise
of receding motion sway
at a high and low pace

Take all control of rides
to the infinite sweep
at the endless stage

I am nineteen years old and I stand at the helm of my mother’s kitchen.
My mother, who has just left for a new job in a new state, has taught me everything I know.
I slip on the rubber gloves (two pairs, one over the other) that I’ve seen her wear so many times before, and I do the chores she used to do.

Leonard Cohen once said that there is a crack in everything; and that’s how the light gets in.
I’m not one to argue with a wise man,
but you my love must be the exception.
I think you are made of glass,
by the way your light shines straight through you
without a crack in sight.
You are the stained glass of a cathedral.
You are the kitchen window my cat loves to lounge about in front of,
basking in the patch of sunlight.
I stand in front of you and feel your light beaming down at me,
and it is the closest I have come to church.

Swimming in sweat, the heat was brutal
from day's pinnacle to sundown, no change,
if anything, it felt it had become hotter
in muggy, dead air, we felt rather deranged.

Could this heatwave be broken? so overpowering,
yes, oppressive, no cool air to break it's spell.
We opened every window in hopes to catch a breeze
we felt like meat cooking upon an outdoor grill.