We are moving closer to Christmas Day and the mad dash to find the right gift for the right person moves closer to the deadline. The malls are crowded and the stores are strewn with items falling from the shelves.
The lines at cash registers are long and tensions can be high at times. Shoppers seem to Continue reading →

After the courts had their way and the outcome was final, I returned to The Farm to carry out my sentence. I was remanded to the completion of treatment in a long-term rehabilitation facility. I was to stay clean and comply with the terms of my probation for three years.

I took a program instead of time. Rather than serve behind bars; I admitted myself into a string of rehabilitation facilities. The first was a 28-day spot in the town of Kerhonkson, New York. I was the youngest patient in the house, which was not an easy.
Fresh from my 17^th birthday, my skin was still too Continue reading →

Last night, I sat alone in a black office chair behind a small round lunch table where each morning, I pour coffee down my throat and finish a warmed pastry or swallow one of the usual breakfast sandwiches that come from either the deli on 43rd Street or the one on 3rd Avenue.

The door, which leads to the outside corridor of a maintenance floor, was closed. This door is what separates the building engineer’s locker room from the rest of the building.
The room itself was quiet. It was the kind of quiet that makes your ears ring. The room was the sort of quiet that leaves too much room to think and somehow amplifies a sense of lonesome reflection. Continue reading →

You used to be the size of my forearm 
You fit between my wrist and the inside of my elbow.
I know this because I used to hold you in one arm
I would look down at you . . .
and you would look up at me.

You once weighed less than Continue reading →

Does anyone remember Kick the Can?

Kick the Can was more involved than Hide and Seek or “Manhunt,” as we called it, which is the same thing, only Manhunt sounded much, much cooler.
Someone is “It,” and whoever that someone is; that person closes their eyes (without peeking) and counts while the other players hide to the best of their ability. The “It” person counts to whatever number, say like Continue reading →

The hours of sunlight change as we move into the winter months. The winds grow colder and even the brightest sun in the clearest skies will eventually lose its warmth. But I don’t mind. I like this time of year.

Saturday evening and I arrived home after a long, overtime shift. The sun had already fallen by the time I reached my driveway. I could see the inside lights of my Continue reading →

A man stood on the shore with his feet in the shallow water. He flipped the spool over on his fishing reel, tagged the line to the upper butt of his fishing rod with his pointer finger, and then the man tossed his line outward to bounce in the ripples of the bay.
The sun beat down across his salt and pepper hair. His skin was tanned and the sun glistened against his chest. The sunlight glimmered against the shine of his gold wedding ring, and overhead, seagulls turned in the light blue sky.
To the man’s left, a young boy stood Continue reading →

Here it is, a day off, and my body woke up early as if it were just another day on the job. But I don’t mind. I need these early moments of silence to share my thoughts with you Continue reading →