A POETS’ ROAD….

Four score and seven years ago ( no I’m not rechanneling A. Lincoln ), okay
How about forty seven years ago I put pen to paper and foot to stage,
So began my poets’ road and over these decades it has been with me
Every day those verses, though I did work in every form in every state,
As well as fought for every kind of cause in places where the work
Needed doing, where suffering was great, where rights were threatened,
But always there was poetry, writings and readings and even publishing;

The poets’ road is paved with obstacles of every type, and challenges
To stay true to the profession of the bard, be it warrior, prophet, laborer,
All had there place, all had there time, and all were done when doing was
Needed in their place and the cost was paid in the coin of flesh demanded,
Sacrifice unyielding, even dreams that had to be turned away for the time,
As highways were traversed, boots upon mountain trails, sandals in the desert,
Miles unwinding like streams of black diamonds unraveling behind my passage;

Yet always there was poetry, writings and readings and even publishing,
Along the rain streaked pockmarked streets that comprised the poets’ road,
Battles won and causes fought and lost, still never shirking the duties call,
And forget not love that was pursued, gained, then failed in the mist of night,
For love, whether gained or lost, is the armor that holds the heart in thrall,
The quest followed like some mythic journey across the frontiers of the hearts
Imagination, for that too comprises the glue of poetic rhetoric on the length of
The poets’ road……