Why This Itch This Yen

Why this itch, this yen, this need to write
yet another love drenched sorry sonnet?
I try to stay my pen with all my might
but just can’t seem to work my will upon it.

Off it goes a scribbling down the page.
Shameless! And my hand can not let go.
Meter! Rhyme! You’d think a man my age
would find a saner pastime. But, oh no.

Words will worm their way from soul to pen
and fill the page despite my helpless fist.
Oh I can stem the tide a while, but then…
A rush of love… and I can not resist.

This pouring out my heart, I did not choose.
No, its all your fault, my love and muse!

New Poems

• "Battle Hymn of the Republic, Indeed"
• "Ode to a Banana"
• "Moving on After 1/6"
• "Hug"
• "Map-less Monarchs"
• "I am Such a Rich Man"
• "Beatitude with Attitude"
• "The Cross and the Lynching Tree Rap"
• "The Nudist Nun"
• "Sonnet 19"
• "Reparations Now"
• "Hoping I'm Wrong"
• "Bird Feeder"
• "Pete and Henry"
• "Nero: A Rap for Republicans"
• "Croissant"
• "Mandela"
• "The New Jim Crow"
• "The Wire"
• "Why Socialism?"

From By Heart

• "Ahiti"
• "As Some Fertile Seed"
• "Greed Screed"
• "I Sing the Ass"
• "Lying Lost Among Your Arms"
• "Now Thou Art Two and Twenty"
• "Sweet Smellin Woman"
• "This World"
• "Train Wreck"
• "Truth and Parable"
• "Why This Itch This Yen"
• "You"

Some Earlier Poems

• "Al and Bob"
• "The Lonely Puddle"
• "Ode to a Bagel"
• "The Rose"
• "Sardinia"
• "When Love's Liqueur"

Audio Recordings

• "Abu Ghraib"
• "Things About Kings"