DISTANT
BY JAMES A. GALGANO

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDST OF A DISTANT DREAM UNTRUE
TWO STARS DRIFTED CLOSELY INTO AND OF WONDERING VIEW
DRAWN BY THE GRAVITY OF THEIR INCONCLUSIVE INTENT
IMAGINING AS WE ALL SO OFTEN DO THAT THEY WERE HEAVEN SENT
WITH A PURPOSE OTHER THAN WANDERING BY MERE HAPPENSTANCE
THEIR TWO CELESTIAL BODIES DREW THEM UNCOMFORTABLY NEAR
THAT THEY COULD ALMOST TOUCH THE PASSING OF ONESTIMABLE TIME
WHICH PASSED SO QUICKLY BEORE THEM AND DISAPPEARED UNDEFINED
LEAVING THEM WANTING MORE THAN SOME   more...DEITIFIC DESIGN IN SPACE
FOR THEIR ANTHROPORMORPHIC EYES HAD MET, THEY LONGED TO EMBRACE
BUT BEING MERE GASEOUS ENTITIES HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE SO
WHERE WOULD IT LEAD THEM IN THEIR TRAVELS BEYOND THEY DID NOT KNOW
NEVERHTELESS THE DESIRE TO CONNECT CONTINUED TO EXPONENTIALLY GROW
DRAWN TO EACH OTHERS HEAVENLY BODIES AS IF IN A DIVINE UNDERTOW
YET DEEP IN THE BACK OF THEIR IMPENETABLE MINDS THEY KNEW THIS COULD NEVER BE
THUS WHEN YOU LOOK INTO SPACE THEIR CONTINUED TRAVAILS ALONE YOU WILL FOREVER SEE
THIS IS HOW OFTEN ROMANCE CAN BE GRAPHICALLY CONSCRIPTED
WHERE THE DESIRE REMAINS BUT IS NEVER ABLE TO CONNECT DUE TO AGE OR TIME
OR SOMETHING INDESCRIBABLY BETWEEN AS I IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN BOOKS NEVER READ
OR SIGHTS NEVER SEEEN, LIKE WE ALL OFTEN FEEL AT TIMES, AS I F PERSECUTED OR SOME UNKNOWN CRIME
WE WANDER AIMLESSLY IN SEARCH O SOME GUIDING LIGHT, THERE AMONG THOSE IMPOSSIBILITIES
I WILL DREAM OF YOU TONIGHT BEYOND REACH, YET NEEVER KNOWING WHY, WE ARE ALL WANDERING STARS WITHIN THIS UNIVERSE A MERE CRUMB IN THE PIE INTE SKY
REACHING FOR THE UNREACHABLE WITHOUT KNOWING WHY OR WHY NOT FOR NO ANSWER WOULD SUFFICE
NEVERTHELESS WE WANDER ALL THE SAME IN HOPES OF CONNECTING WITH SOMEONE OR SOMETHING WITHIN THE DISTANCE OF SOME UNGUIDING NIGHT





  less

Misdirected intent
By james a. galgano

Wearily these wandering eyes anxiously peer
In search of a welcome mat smile And fireplace soul
to warm their heart and comfort their tears
while sheltering each dream and easing every fear
from the surrounding storm’s uncertain whim
embracing each fold of imperfect skin
as if it exuded purity and promised perfection
rather than the obvious fault and constant misdirection
upon that mount of endless quest, within each wink
a solemn duress , in the quietude of loneliness
  more...we confess our true intentions and transgressions
to a shadowy genuflection whose cavernous eyes reveal
in eerie reflection how we believe we truly feel
and what in reality we longingly desire unfailing to see
no matter what the cost in secrecy our human frailty
conspires with our baser instincts of lust ,gluttony and greed
beneath whose idols we still worship as unfortunate creed




  less

SPIRAL STAIRCASE
BY JAMES A. GALGANO

I SAW A DEAD MAN CLIMBING UP DESCENDING STAIRS
CARRYING UPON HIS SHOULDERS THIRTEEN CHAIRS
WITHIN EACH ONE A VICTIM SOON TO BE
THAT IS WHERE I SAW MYSELF IN CHAIR NUMBER THREE
I WAS UNAWARE OF MYSELF ALMOST IN A TRANCE
DREAMING OF ENDLESS TOMORROWS PERCHANCE
A LIFE LIVED IN HAPPINESS ETERNALLY
BUT AS THE FROWN CLEARLY DESCRIBED IN THE IMAGERY
OF THE UNSETTLING VICTIM IN CHAIR NUMBER TWO
THE LIKELIHOOD OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS
WOULD NEVER IN A MILLION STARES COME TRUE
FOR AS THE   more...DEADMAN REACHED EACH NEW INCLINE
A CHAIR FELL INTO THE DARK MURKY ABYSS BELOW
AND WITH IT THE UNKNOWN VICTIM LEAPT
TRYING VALIANTLY YET VAINLY TO ESCAPE
ONLY TO FALL IN FUTILITY INTO THE ARMS
OF HIS/HER MOST UNKNOWN PERPLEXING FATE
TO NEVER AGAIN SEE ALL THOSE DREAMS
ONE HOPES TO COME TRUE BUT NEVER DO
LIKE ALL HOPES AND PRAYERS EVAPORATE
INTO THE PRIMORDIAL STEW OF NEVER WILL BE
FLOATING LIKE ANTHROPORMOPHIC DRIFTWOOD
UPON THE BACK OF A DEADMAN ASCENDING STAIRS
WITH THIRTEEN EMPTY CHAIRS SOON TO BE
FILLED WITH THE MISPLACED HOPES OF THOSE UNAWARE
HOW FINITE AND UNFULFILLING LIFE CAN BECOME
WHEN YOU ARE IN A RACE THAT WILL NEVER BE WON

  less

TEARDROP REDUX
BY JAMES A. GALGANO

THE PLAN IN STORE WHICH CAUSED SUCH CALAMITY
THAT CREATED SUCH SORROW WHERE ONLY JOY WOULD BE
YET TIME PLAYED US ALL LIKE AN ORCHESTRA OF FUTILITY
THE CALM AND QUIETUDE WE HAD ALWAYS SHARED
WAS TAKEN FROM UNDER OUR PILLOW OF HOPE
AND REPLACED WITH SKEPTICISM AND DESPAIR
IT WASN’T SO LONG AGO UPON A RETICENT SEA
WE SAILED SO CLOSELY TOGETHER EMBRACED
IN THE ARMS OF EACH AND A HAPPINESS WE THOUGHT
WOULD NEVER PASS, ALAS IT CAME AND WENT
TOO QUICKLY OR WAS TAKEN AWAY WITH YOUR   more...LOVE
LEAVING ME WITH THESE TEARS OF ONLY YESTERDAYS
ON AN EMPTY STAGE IN THE BACK OF MY MIND
TRYING TO REMEMBER EACH OF YOUR WORDS
WE SHARED IN PROSE, IN RHYME AND IN WHAT WE HOPED PERPETUITY, BUT INSTEAD OUR HAPPY HOME WAS INADVERTENTLY
TOUCHED BY TIMES FICKLED FINGER OF FATE
THE ONE THAT TAKES THE INNOCENT FROM US TOO SOON
BUT ALLOWS THE REMAINDER OF US BEHIND MEMORY’S RUSTING GATE WITH A WAILING SOUND THAT SOON SUBSIDES
AS EVENTUALLY DO THE RIVER OF TEARDROPS
THAT FLOWED FREELY FOR OUR EYES
LEAVING ONLY THE ECHOES OF LAUGHTER
AND PHOTOGRAPHS THAT WILL WITH TIME FADE
BUT NEVER THE MOMENTS IN WHICH THEY WERE MADE
IN THE PASSING OF TIME THEY WILL ALWAYS BE SAVED
BEHIND THESE EYES WHICH ONCE COULD NEVER SEE
A LIFE THAT LAY AHEAD WITH ALL ITS SORROW AND CALAMITY
  less

Artistry inflected
By james a. galgano

Fallible portrait of infinite allure lithesome delight
Enthralling each brushstroke in lurid detail demure
Amply depicting each subtly suggestive curve inciting
Confused emotion delighting masculine curiosity impolite
Bathed in arousing complexion which easily misguides
Producing romantic bliss and idyllic genuflection upon view
Her angelic seduction glows from canvas exultation
Yet never fully capturing in reality her true incantation
Which she so easily exudes in real   more...life innocently unaware
Of the hold her adorable vision effectuates from thin air
Where she stood in a moment captured for all time
Upon an image painted so easily in memory divine


  less