"Once we learn to read, we can never again see letters as mere inky squiggles."
—Daniel Gilbert
I wrote every poem here. Neither stanza, line, nor phrase was composed by
an AI. Explore my poetry by clicking on the style of your interest.
Echo Acrostics
Bemangled cask; elixir sweet
Loquacious crowds delight in wine
Obliging fight in Antoine’s heat
Oblation to their scarlet shrine
Destruction of their class conceit
Recorded “BLOOD” foretells decline
Each man of Paris on his feet—
Devoted subjects? Rutting swine?
Observant, seeking insight’s light
Her peace maintains a slow retreat
Beneath a dark and starless night
Embraced by shadows’ cold deceit
Give up the shroud that veils your sight
Let comfort lift you to your feet
Accept a hope both strong and bright
Delight in faith and friendship sweet
Rejoice! The Heavens opened wide
And bathed the land in healing rain
In Lightning’s wake, the Thunder cried
“
Now Earth shall all be clean again!”
Fie! Fickle Fate, since summertide,
Anon your ardor ebbs; ‘tis plain
Lustration’s luster won’t abide
Lo! Drizzles leave a muddy stain
Let sleep sweep over all your thoughts
Erasing reason's leaden scrawl.
Though worry ties your heart in knots,
Hypnotic dreams unwind them all.
And if your vernal vision rots,
Remanding you to nightmare's thrall—
Go on in hope, connect the dots!
You'll rise again at morning's call.
Haiku
The sky turns bloody
A finch greets the crowning sun
I avert my eyes
Blue, red, orange, gold
The moon squints at the sunrise
I squint at the moon
A new day rises
Shadows stretch along the ground
Not the human heart
Peeking between homes
Sleepy Sol stretches her wings
Setting trees aflame
The robin falls still
Shadows dance on the sidewalk
Luna swallows Sol
Street lamps drown the stars
Luna laments her sisters
Men draw their flashlights
Limericks
Dipterological Trivia
The fly is a curious creature
With a most unbelievable feature:
It can dart side to side,
And fly backward with pride
Just to pester your seventh grade teacher.
Spring Greetings
I encountered a wasp on the wing
Who delivered a merciless sting!
I exclaimed: “My good sir!”
She corrected me: “Her”
And then darted away with a zing!
Sonnets
A Doctorate Distilled
My thesis seeks to count elliptic curves
With $m$-isogeny and over $\mathbb{Q}$.
To order them by height naïvely serves;
The inverse Mellin transform caps our coup.
I also fashion inequalities
Equivalent to Riemann's star surmise.
My claims are more than mere frivolities:
From LCMs, they readily arise.
I study some summations on the side:
Convergent series, ilk of lesser fame.
I catalogue the laws that these abide,
Then find extensions which fulfill the same.
I strive to prove what's worthy, fun, and true.
In short, arithmetic is what I do.
A New Day
The sky forebodes, o’ercast with somber pall;
A weight that smothers in its heavy hours.
But lo! A clarion flame will burn it all!
The sun will rise with all his potent powers.
The earth beneath lies patient in her shroud,
As still as death, though life may scurry on.
She’ll rise again, resplendent, regal, proud,
To kiss the sun beneath the breaking dawn.
And we alike may lift our weary eyes
Though weighty fortunes rest upon our wings
To gaze upon the luminescent skies
And greet the East and all the hope he brings.
The night is black, but passes sure and swift—
And day is ours, a sudden sacred gift
Scattered Days
Alas for days like scattered golden leaves:
Abandoned litter on the fallow ground.
Another moment tumbles, turns, and weaves,
Then flutters to the earth without a sound.
I rake the days or leaves into a heap.
The vivid mess accrues before my eyes
As half-forgotten dreams are buried deep
And scarlet thoughts assume a drabber guise.
The Tree of Life is rife with verdure now:
She wanes anon as Autumn hastens on.
And though I try, I cannot fathom how
To keep her green, pristine like Summer's dawn.
Lo! Winter looms, and soon I too shall go
To join my leaves or days beneath the snow.
A Strange Encounter Just Before The Dusk
I passed beside a somber little loch
And greeted friendly geese and dapper ducks.
I ventured close and crouched upon a rock...
And here my short report attains its crux.
A sable creature sliced the waters through,
With humps like knuckles of a sodden troll.
Its bulk below the waves was hid from view,
Approach unchecked by shallows, shelf, or shoal.
No log it was, for logs leave no such wake;
Nor fowl fair, for fowls have need of air;
Nor yet a fish, for fish dwell 'neath the lake;
Nor otter, for no otters shelter there.
The thing arrived, triumphant in its race—
Then slipped beneath the black without a trace.
Bare
Passion
The grotto where he bled was stark and bare,
Divorced from heaven, hemmed by slabs of stone.
He clutched the oil-slicked basin, wracked by prayer
Too raw and poignant to endure alone.
The cross from which he hung was stark and bare,
Beneath a heaven dark with holy rage.
And Earth herself lamented in despair
As Yahweh’s passing crowned the former age.
The now-forsaken tomb is stark and bare,
And Jesus Christ ascends with glory rife.
The Spirit bearing witness, I declare
That through the Son we have Eternal Life.
The chambers of my heart are stark and bare—
A knock? A voice! My Lord shall enter there.
Free Verse
Friendship
A friendship is—
An open heart
An earnest hug
A gentle smile
A lilting laugh
A helping hand
A mindful gift
A moment shared
A leap of faith
A friendship is a fragile rose
A fragrant bloom from barren earth
A grace too large for careless prose
A cherished trust of endless worth
The Lonely Song
When they slither and fly
Between bubbling red stone,
Can they find us
Here within the soft timber?
For among the treasure
Time will saunter through striking madness:
Do not continue to be the tinder of time
Run down by the patterned surface
And old life is gone.
Can you love us when you find us?
Is it a game to you?
Miscellaneous
For You
Afraid, alone, and feeling blue,
You long for love and comfort too.
But as you watch mistakes accrue
You feel lost and wonder who
Would care enough to pull you through.
The Lamb of God has come to do
The Work His Father bid Him to.
His love is deep and word is true
And in His grace He’ll make you new—
The Son of Man has died for you.
Projection
I've often heard the seasoned cynic claim
That dreams are naught but phantoms of the mind
That fear and faith and friendship are the same:
Projections of a psyche trite and blind.
O subtle cynic, sly or circumspect,
How dare you shut your eyes against the light!
We dream not to project but to reflect
The cosmos as a model in our sight.