Dear son,
Although we never really spoke or met the way people usually meet or speak, and though you are not real or better yet, although you are me, or more accurately, you are the young me, you are the unresolved me and the emotions which revolve within me, I am writing this to relieve you of some things, which you gripped too tightly and held for too long.

The way to achieve is to work towards your goal. And this won’t always be easy. You have to step in all the way. Day in and day out, you train each day to be better.This is how you learn to overcome obstacles. Nothing of true value comes easy. Not at all, in fact, real dreams take effort; they take time and dedication as well as pain and sweat.

I was sitting in a break room the first time I learned that one of my stories was about to be published. I was several hours deep into my midweek grind, tired and dirty, and making my way through my blue collar life. I made a choice to dedicate a special moment each day and every day to this thing I call my art. And every day, I would sit and write about one thing or another. I would never write about the same thing twice because as an exercise, I made sure to switch my topics, which was challenging at times because the mind is naturally swayed by compliments. Therefore, I had to remove myself from the comment section and the messages I received on my blog.

Sunup is about lift on my side of the mountain. I can see the band of light blue at the horizon. I am quiet now and listening to the sounds of my home, the heat, which clanks in the radiators, the wind, which I can hear when it gusts, and me,armed with my cup of coffee; I am content for the moment to breathe in and enjoy the stillness of morning.

I was asked by a reader if I believe in God, which I do, and we speak often and frequently about the moment and the tasks at hand. I was asked if I have faith, which I do, and at times, I realize that faith is not just a belief and that faith alone is not enough. Faith is also an action.

Bless us O Lord for these, Thy gifts, which we are about to receive because all through the land, families will gather together and sit at tables, crowded with food, and the television will play and the news will show the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Aunts and Uncles, cousins, brother and sisters, friends from all around; we gather here on this day to give thanks for all that we have been given
We say thanks for the food and thanks for the warmth. Thanks for the roof above our head, the clothes on our backs, and the shoes on our feet.
We say thanks for the in-laws (or the outlaws if we regret them) and thanks to the makers of stuffing and mashed potatoes
Thanks for the Moms on full-time duty for they are truly underappreciated 
Thanks to all those who’ve braved the traffic and thanks to those who made it even when age or life’s predicaments might have placed them elsewhere Continue reading →

The sun comes up to signify another Monday. It is another day here in purgatory. I say this because I see this as a way-station. Another week begins, and of course, the ideas of what’s to come and what awaits me when I punch my time clock are beginning to filter through.

I am a blue collar man, which in reality, makes me no different from a white collar man. I am here to earn a living and to make a mutually beneficial exchange. This is what a job is. I give them my time and my work and in exchange, I Continue reading →

I was somewhere south of Houston and walking down by the shops and looking through the windows at clothes I could never afford. I was in my late 20’s at the time. The weather was closing in on the end of the warmer months. Autumn had just begin and the change in season was just underway.
It was me and the girl I dated at the time. There were two others with us and neither of them were people I liked. But yet, of course, there they were, with us, and walking along, talking loud about Continue reading →

There is a time, just before the sun sets,
and the sky over Midtown is perfect
and nearly orange.
All is quiet as I find my spot
to retreat on the roof of a building on Lexington,
the Eastside of Manhattan.

I can hear the Continue reading →

There is thing we have and we all have it too. We call it life, and sometimes, life happens beyond our control. Life goes on without regard for what we ask for or what we wish. This is life.
Life happens on a daily basis. This is us, every day, weaving through time and negotiating the daily obstacles, overcoming, sustaining, and enduring the mild to major intrusions. that happen to us, Like it or not. This is life. Continue reading →

It has been told to me that the hardest things to find in life are often the things which are right in front of our face. I see myself as a seeker of things and often times, I find myself in places where I feel lost or incomplete. Of all things to feel and find, the hardest things to feel is out of place, lost, or Continue reading →