Lost amid signs suggesting many paths--
A message seeks to penetrate my thoughts,
Bold printed words impose their claims straight off.
Such satisfaction must come at a price!
This voice I hear inside no less gives sight,
Sheds light on dark ideas, a simple prayer.

Those stainless-crafted words follow steel tracks---
Time's urgent signals scattered in white noise.
The moon knows what I seek beneath this street.
Starry places that never see the sun,
Sanctuary, where shadows edit light.
I trace their shapes in tongues that bare the soul.

The subway makes each stop on Dante Street
Poets who pay the fare all ride for free!

c.1996

Chess Mate

by Ignatius Graffeo

What is this power I am feeling inside
that moves me when I think of you?
It is not like a move on a chessboard,
but a force that makes my heart believe
I need you like no one else before.

Our eyes do not tell our secrets yet
and our bodies have not felt our touch.
But two souls are now keeping company.
We are together every minute of the day
And for a short eternity in our dreams.

There is a strange spice to blindness.
Will we feel the same way after we see?
Our souls tell us we belong together,
but our minds are not entirely made up.
Our truest hearts will know what to do.

c. 2001. Cover art by Ignatius Graffeo

Poem and graphic by Ignatius Graffeo