Some Selections From Joe's Poetry:

• Arrows of Cupid

  Cupid's leaden-headed arrow is said to kill love; by contrast, Cupid's golden-headed arrow inspires love)
  
  

  What kills love?
  
  The humdrum work comprising daily life;
  the never-ending chores by man and wife?
  
  Annoying habits leading to disgust;
  unrequited love is spawning mistrust?
  
  An itch for life apart from tiring mate,
  to turn elsewhere in search of better fate?
  
  The ended passion marking lustful youth;
  reaction to unveiled suspected truth?
  
  Financial ruin because of past excess;
  or dreams unmet and no hope for success?
  
  Preventing growth; attempting to control,
  the freedom lost begetting vitriol?
  
  A lifetime devoted to none but self;
  life's fullest measure kept upon the shelf?
  
  Love wanes when proffered heart gets no reply -
  the arrow of lead strikes true and this
  
  Love will die.
  
  What inspires love?
  
  A savoring to full of daily life;
  patient sharing of tasks by man and wife.
  
  Annoying habits unheeded at last;
  love returned, old lapses kept in the past.
  
  Relishing life and thus inspiring mate,
  pursuing paths to new delights create.
  
  Waning passions the mark of lusty youth
  matures to deep affection, Love's real truth.
  
  Enjoying life within the Golden Mean;
  needs met now, prepared for the unforseen.
  
  Each free to grow, to own interests pursue,
  revealing ways to further love accrue.
  
  Tho' reason for being may include pleasure,
  helping others yields life's fullest measure.
  
  Love grows when proffered heart gets like reply -
  struck by Cupid's golden arrow such Love cannot die.

• lilac rhapsody (Not in the current book)

  Surrender yearning spirit to beckoning fantasy;
  muse in sensuous interlude on floating reverie.

  Quench Desire's carefree thirst; soar upwardly
  where pleasant whispers rustle dreamily.On deep ceaseless vistas unbind reason's eye;
  in blissful abstract leap, envision azure sky.

  Join, now, a graceful pantomime of clouds
  burgeoning into towering billowed shrouds.
  With resplendent white mantles, sweep and converge
  atop darkening base - and toward Heaven surge.

  Gaze next on sapphire limpid bay below,
  reflecting sunlit sky in burnished glow.

  Pursue and savor wistful lastingness;
  Idly sail wing-and-wing in - nothingness.

  Sense cool mists and distant thunder drum,
  portending showers soon sure to come.

  With phantasmagoric sensations channeled,
  drift to yonder lea, in sunlight now enameled.

  Waft in rambling curve toward bright diadems
  of gently swaying inquiring floral gems.

  Glide to its refracting violet tint;
  ponder the balmy scented pastel glint
  emerging dreamily into rhapsodic view;
  draw near to delight in fragrant lilac dew.

  Savor ample verdant bush with curly spikes aleaf;
  hover in radiant thought at its relaxing green motif.

  There, speckled greenery like impressionist dabs of muted tones
  assemble profusely to display blossoms in countless cones.

  Each flowered pyramid flaunts exploding swirls
  of thriving white cruciform flower curls --

  Frail tiny stationary whirligigs
  immobilized on splendor'd fragile twigs.

  Following release, in climax, of fragrant aerosol,
  enervated older florets prepare to fall.

  Succumb to these enchanting floral arrays;
  bask and tarry in hushed perfumed displays,
  mindful of the random bee disinclined
  to share with you its nectar'd treasure find.

  Now, reluctantly dismount fantasy, contentment fair possessed,
  lingering tendrils of Ecstasy in rapture just caressed.