Stranded in an unfamiliar town and shivering under the bluish white lights behind the rear parking lot of an old motel, Stan pulled his last smoke from a cigarette pack and placed the butt-end in his clenched teeth.
He flicked his lighter while cupping the flame to protect it from the cold, February wind. And then he exhaled the smoke while tossing Continue reading →

At 20 years-old and one year after my re-entry into the world, I was told to, “Straighten up and fly right.”
I was told, “You have to get honest, kid. You have to prepare yourself for the working world and corporate America.”

My first few jobs were plain and unremarkable. I held two sales positions in Continue reading →

I apply this dream to the mid-stream fantasies
that come during my battles with insomnia.
The moonlight filters through the eastside, upstairs window,
lighting the bedroom to the color a soft form of electric blue.

I lay awake Continue reading →

They were young, rebellious, and eager to taste the electric side of life. They were anxious to dive into the colorful, ultra-violet lights, and laugh their way into the psychedelic hours of an early following morning. It was just before evening and the sunset changed the summer sky into different shades of orange and purple.
The green grass behind the playground of the elementary school was Continue reading →

It was not by choice, but I went to Hebrew School when I was a kid. I went to Saturday school too, but most of my friends went to Sunday school and Communion classes. I don’t remember much—other than I never did well, and I never did any of the homework assignments—I just remember not wanting to be there and thinking about my friends that were somewhere else, doing something different, and probably having a better time than me.

As it was, I had to sit through regular Continue reading →

There is a key on one of the active key rings to my household and the door it opens is no longer there.
But once, it opened the door to a small house in the middle of a quiet street on a wide block. On early summer mornings, the sprinklers in the neighboring lawns would awaken and chatter across the green grass.
The suburban streets were lined with trees and the all of the homes were neatly kept with unique landscaping.
This is where I lived for several years.
I learned there. I grew and I evolved.

I landed my first real job while living in that house. I bought my first Continue reading →

My job is not a clean one. Most days, I scrub my hands as hard as I can but the dirt stains my fingerprints. My work is mainly geared towards the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in a commercial office building. There is also pluming work for the bathrooms and tenant spaces, and then on occasion, I work with electricity.
According to local fire laws, buildings of certain Continue reading →

1)

Understand something:

There are three sides to the cafeterias
in our schools.
To the left are the athletes, or the pretty.
They are the socially elite.
They are the exception to the norm, and the gifted.

To the right are the Continue reading →

We walked through the empty sands during a cold morning on the first day of the New Year.  My daughter and I were alone and the sun was bright. The tide was on its way in and the waves curled into the shore, crashing and echoing into the surf and then tumbling over the broken clam shells before returning them to the ocean.

I held onto her hand, which was half Continue reading →

1)

I remember you well.
I was young then and early in my sobriety. We used to walk from the meeting near 31st St over to 5th and 33rd.
I talked. You mostly listened.
You laughed and told me, “You’ll get it, someday.”
And by get it, you were talking about that thing they call serenity.

 You once told me about your Continue reading →