Selections from "Enter at Your Own Risk"

Enter Here

Welcome all who dare to enter,
Care to take a look inside.
Candles flicker introspection;
Murky depths where monsters tend to
Hide from unsuspecting prey,
Shadow stalking building to
Last minute leaping, thrashing slashing.
If you venture, you must pay.
Asking price? A soul or two,
Or perhaps your dignity.
Brazen is the caretaker who
Sells this medicine to you.
Cross the threshold of this manor.
Plunge to darkness. Rise to light.
Hand on dagger, eyes and mind
Wide open, challenging the fear.
All are mortal in this kingdom
Where eternity begins.
Voices call out through the gloom,
Hope for all who enter here.


No Exit

You’re in it now right up to your knees;
A quicksand quagmire of coarse confrontation.
Stagnant in stalemate with no end, no exit,
No friend or ally to help share the load.

Faced with a frenzy of cautious confusion,
Flashes and firefights flooding the fray,
Beastly procession of angry antagonist
Rise from a distance to roar in your face.

Every angle meets staunch opposition.
Every side sidles out, closes in.
Flanked by the forces of fragmented evil,
Stench of his hot breath close to your throat.

Praying for miracles, waiting for angels to
Lift you and carry you out of the storm.
Raising your sword in final defiance.
Duel to the death.
Freedom at last.


No Escape

Doors locked tight in deadbolt fashion,
Windows barred. No latch. No key.
Trapped inside this prison fortress,
Waiting… yearning to achieve.

Duped by longings long forgotten,
Lulled by enigmatic pride to
Seek the comfort of your lodging,
Never thinking I may want to leave
Someday. Prideful, stubborn,
Hopeless to the bitter end.
Contemplating thoughtless choices.
Touching tear-stained eye to sleeve.

There was never time for singing,
Dancing, laughing, ploy or play.
Only cries of desperation, No escape.
No time to grieve.

There must be some far off refuge
Where the hopeless may aspire.
Forced to live in fruitless foil,
Waiting, yearning for reprieve.


Killers on the Loose

Hide the children. Cloister all the
Innocents who stand defenseless.
Warn them. Teach them to be wary.
There are killers on the loose.

Beast who stalk with stealth precision,
Stealing lives without remorse.
Monsters born to know no conscience,
Feel no pain, bear no grief.

Murders planned and carried out for
Recognition, nothing more.
Seeking blessings of hereafter,
As if God would have it so.

Twisted minds. Twisted mentors.
Twisted sheep in sacrifice.
Wake the giant from his slumber.
Judgment,
Justice to be served.


Manhandler

Think you’re tough?
Think you’re rough?
Acting such a rogue is just your bluff.
Storming from the table,
Cast your lot into a Cain and Able fable.

Alibis disguise your lies.
Still your dastard hand, you bastard.
You’ll not handle me in conquest,
Not without a heavy price.

I have seen your heavy-handed
Grand manipulations landed squarely
On an unsuspecting jaw
Just like a Billy club.

Bullish in your swank and swagger.
Swooping, storming in a lather.
Total disregard, no conscience.
Lower than the lowest grub.

Someday you’ll get your come-uppance,
Though it may not be from me.
I just hope to be around.
It’s something I would like to see.


Great Divide

We are just two bull rams seeking
Dominance among the herd.
Reason long suspended, vanquished
To some craggy mountaintop.

Now the only sound for miles is
Two heads butting with a crack so loud
It splits the crowded stillness,
Shattering the great divide.

Neither prone to letting go.
Neither one can walk away.
Hurling bodies seek to crush with
Fist-filled verbiage soaked in heat.

Blow-torch madness reaches fever
Seeking to crack skull to skull.
Who will finally succeed this
Caustic catastrophic game?

Neither bade such confrontation.
But it came,
No warning signs.
Evolution’s revolution,
No surrender…
No retreat….


You Can Run, You Can’t Hide

Darkened corners offer little comfort
As a hiding place.
Secret spaces so remote that no one
Knows your name, your face. Your alibi is
Suspect, just a rubber band that’s
Stretched to snap with one last tug.
Eye’s cast down trying to deny disgrace.

I was there.
I was witness to your folly;
So unwise.
Gambling your very soul, for what?
The odds of winning any prize were
So remote, stacked against your favor
From the very start.
But I could not convince you or
Erase the stardust from your eyes.

Now the knock upon your door
Coming to collect your debt.
Paying with a pound of flesh.
Sad conclusion.
Hard regret.


Tic Toc Tic

Ever forward, stepping out.
Are you enemy or friend?
Able to repair great sorrow,
Only to delay the bitter ending
That is sure to come.
Measuring in constant cadence
Ticking, tocking, ever so.
Far too busy to look back,
Never stop to find a home.
Bold and brave you sally forth,
Never known to shed a tear,
Wear a frown, laugh out loud,
Stone-faced bastard that you are.
Can’t you stop? Slow your pace?
Catch the fragrance while it lingers,
Or are you too busy trying desperately to
Reach your star?
Tic… No pressure. No emotion.
Toc… On board. No turning back.
Tic… No warning. No deception.
Challenging to raise the bar.