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 →

Years ago, it was unheard of for homes to have televisions in every room. Most homes had one, if any, and it was usually placed in something called the family room, or den. And while I grew up with more than one television in my house, the large set was in the den.
I remember the sitcoms; I remember shows like Continue reading →

Sunday morning and I started my shift before 6:00 a.m.
I stood at the time clock and exhaled my tired exhale. I entered my numerical code and then placed my hand inside the scanner.
After the clock beeped in its tiny beep of acceptance, the word “THANK YOU” flashed on the L.E.D. screen and I exhaled my tired exhale.

The cold weather has been relentless…
I went up to the 29^th floor and stood on the setback of the building where I work. I sipped from my coffee, looking west, and watched Continue reading →

Yesterday ended with these words, “Daddy, will you lay with me.”
And of course, I pushed aside the stuffed animals in my daughter’s bed, fluffed one of her several pillows, and then I lay down beside her. She tucked the blankets beneath her chin and snuggled her face into her pillow. She kissed my arm, which she curled into….and all was well.

I see this as a diminishing window of opportunity.

“Daddy, will you lay with me,” Used to be pronounced, “Will you lay wiff me.”
Supermarket was sukermarket and meatballs were pronounced neatballs.
The wheels on the bus no longer Continue reading →

Snowstorms remind me of when I was a little kid and living at 277 Merrick Avenue. The snowdrifts were up to my knees and my short legs charged through the white piles of fluffy snow. I was bundled in an oversized winter coat with a scarf tied around my neck. I wore a knitted hat pulled over my ears, puffy mittens over my hands, and big clunky boots.
The Old Man used to call them space boots.

I loved the snow, though my toes would get too cold. My fingers were cold too.
Making snowmen or snowballs left my mittens wet, which made Continue reading →

This is for Daddy’s little girl~

You should know that I have never gone away.
And though you may not see me as you once did;
I see you more clearly now than ever before.
Remember:
While born of the body, the eyes close to sleep or they sometimes shut in thought. But I am not of the body; I am of the spirit, and my eyes never close,
not even to blink.

Continue reading →

Heading southeast of the J.I. Buoy, and passed the lobster pots at The Cholera Banks where small fishing boats work the bottom, and passed The Yankee, which is a little more than 20 miles out, and passed the H.A. Buoy, beyond The Bacardi, and south of the Texas Tower is a place called The Hudson Canyon.

I miss this place

On an early afternoon, we set out Continue reading →

I call this the ongoing goodbye for someone that never leaves.

Here I go,
I’m packed and moving out
I have the wind at my back
and the sun is on my face
I’m laughing Continue reading →

Everyone smiled when the sun went down. The lightning bugs began to flash their tiny green lanterns, which reflected above the small pond at the bottom of the hill.
The tree-lined mountains tucked beneath the color of sunset, and for the moment, all was quiet on the farm.

The cows moved closer to the barn. The two Continue reading →

You slipped away from us and like a child of winter,
and found yourself in the conclusion of an ultimate hibernation.
Sleeping beneath the lifeless drapes that cover your windows,
your eyes were like tiny symphonies that stole light from the prospect of truth

 (Only, you never knew it)

It seemed as though the grin you kept was sharp
Like a knife….
and I suppose it cut too deeply,
sinking into the flesh Continue reading →