Each of the three long poems in The Trilogy of Time stands on its own while contributing to the larger arc of the work. The synopses below offer a brief sense of their themes and movement without revealing the poems themselves.
In Days of Yore is a sweeping, imaginative epic that blends childhood fantasy, medieval romance, political intrigue, and philosophical reflection into a single narrative tale.
The poem begins with a boy wandering the woods, transforming rocks and trees into castles and battlefields. In his imagination, he becomes a knight of “Chivalry,” sworn to defend the radiant Queen of Light against a relentless enemy king. The Queen, majestic and divine, rejects repeated marriage proposals from emissaries, choosing defiance over compromise. Her strength inspires loyalty, and the boy’s imagined army fights valiantly in her name.
As the fantasy deepens, diplomacy and deception enter the tale. The Queen manipulates the king with cunning letters, ultimately orchestrating his downfall during a drunken wedding feast. With the king slain, she consolidates power, turning from bloodshed to diplomacy. Foreign princes and emperors arrive, proposing alliances. Instead of war, the Queen embraces trade, commerce, and cultural exchange, envisioning prosperity through unity. The knight becomes her emissary, traveling across continents, securing treaties, and marveling at the diversity of humankind.
The narrative shifts from epic battles to philosophical musings on mortality, human arrogance, and the possibility of higher consciousness. Nature, with its rivers, forests, and stars, contrasts with humanity’s violence, offering serenity and renewal. The Queen and knight’s relationship evolves into romance, culminating in marriage, coronation, and the birth of a child, symbolizing hope for future generations.
Throughout, the “dinner bell” motif interrupts the fantasy, pulling the boy back to ordinary life, some family meals, school assignments, chores, and friendships. This recurring bell reminds us that the grand epic is a child’s imaginative play, woven into the rhythms of everyday existence.
Ultimately, the poem closes with reflections on aging, innocence, and the enduring spirit of hope. The boy, now grown, recognizes that imagination and experience together form the rhythm of life. The epic world he created is both a personal sanctuary and a universal allegory: a vision of humanity striving for peace, unity, and renewal, even amid cycles of conflict.
Shakespeare’s Play is a multi-act poetic narrative that explores the intersection of literature, modern crisis, and the human condition.
The poem follows a university student (the narrator) navigating a semester-long exploration of Shakespearean tragedy against the backdrop of a bleak, "wintry" world defined by political upheaval, environmental decay, and social division.
The narrative is anchored in a classroom where a professor challenges students to imagine how Shakespeare would interpret the modern world. A student named Daphne proposes a scenario: a tragedy where the "hero" is not a single person, but the collective human race. As the semester progresses, the students (Daphne, Raul, Letitia, and others) debate whether humanity is destined for a "freefall" or if a psychological and evolutionary "shift" in consciousness can save it.
The narrator balances academic life with personal introspection, often finding solace at the sea. The ocean serves as a "muse", a symbol of "fathomless depths" and enduring life that stands in contrast to the "encroaching darkness" of human politics. Interactions with a friend, Margo, provide a grounded, human connection. They share coffee and visit museums, discussing the "prosaic world" and the "diabolical forces" of totalitarianism and technological overreach that threaten to turn humans into "automatons."
The narrator serves on the editorial board of a student journal, Into the Fire. They publish an editorial calling for "camaraderie" and "collective acknowledgment" of shared suffering. The piece uses the myth of Sisyphus to argue that humanity must stop rolling the "self-imposed burden" of hatred up the hill and instead find common ground.
In a stark tonal shift, an interlude to the narrative describes a "dastardly" vision of the world as a rotting corpse. This section highlights environmental collapse, with acid rain, "blood-stained oil," and a "wingless sky", portraying history as a "train wreck" moving toward a bottomless abyss.
The professor replaces the final exam with a creative project: the students must write their own tragedy. The narrator struggles with the "ending," realizing that a traditional Shakespearean ending,where the hero dies at their own hands, feels insufficient for the current reality.
The poem concludes with the narrator walking along the shore, looking at a "blurry" horizon. They realize that the "play" of human existence has no true end because it is always beginning. The narrative reaches a meta-fictional resolution: the narrator is both the playwright and the player. The final insight is one of radical interconnectedness: "The world was where I lived / but the world was myself / inside of it." The tragedy is not an external event to be watched, but an internal reality to be lived and potentially transformed.
UAP begins in an open field in the silent countryside, a blinding light appears. It hangs above the earth like a chandelier, brighter than the stars, emitting a soft, hypnotic hum like a hummingbird in slow motion. As news reporters, scientists, and the National Guard descend upon the scene, a burgeoning "City of Light" sprouts up among the spectators—a makeshift society of tents, vendors, and seekers all gathered beneath the gaze of an unmoving, mysterious orb.
A gripping hybrid of narrative poetry and existential inquiry, this work explores the frantic and festive underbelly of a world facing the unknown. While the military prepares for a war they cannot comprehend and politicians plead for unity, the citizens of this impromptu city find themselves caught between fear and worship. Through chat rooms and open-air stages, philosophers, poets, and scientists grapple with the ultimate question: is this phenomenon a visitation from beyond, a mass psychosis, or a mirror reflecting our own collective consciousness?
Rich with imagery and stark social commentary, UAP is a profound meditation on the human condition. It traces the path of resilience from the first spark of panic to the quiet realization that, in the face of the great unknown, we are the light ourselves. For readers of contemporary verse and speculative philosophy, this narrative offers a brilliant reckoning of what it means to be human in an age of ubiquitous uncertainty.