As I write to you, I am looking through my office window.
And I do this often.
I am watching the sunrise above the rooftops and above the telephone poles with wires that run and connect one house to the next. I drink from my coffee mug and take my moment of silence so I can ease into this last day of the week.
There is a slight wind picking up. The trees are swaying and the birds are beginning to chirp as morning takes its place. Much of the Continue reading
We went passed the halfway mark of November and Christmas decorations have already dressed some of the buildings in Manhattan’s Eastside. Kids are preparing their Christmas lists while parents ready their boxes of holiday lights, tree decorations, and red stockings with white fluffy tops, and names written on them in script with glue and multicolored sparkles.
Soon every television commercial will tell us about holiday sales. Flyers will come in the mail and the race to the stores will become unbearable and painfully busy.
A friend of mine works Continue reading
We are moving into the season of hot apple cider and pumpkin spice lattes. My friend The Old Tree that stands across the street from my home is now like the others and completely leafless.
During the mornings, I step outside before sitting in my car and I look at the street at the end of my block. I stop for a moment and face the east.
The sky is in its early moments of change, and with the empty tree branches of tall trees poking above the houses in my community like black crooked fingers in the foreground; the colors of heaven vary in shades of orange and purple in the background.
The winds have lost their warmth and the Continue reading
Above all else, I must not forget who I am or where I come from. I cannot ignore the various truths that detail my character; however, I must embrace all of my characteristics in order to grow.
And in order to grow, I cannot deny who I am or pretend to be someone other than me.
True—I am similar to others in many ways. But it is also 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
1)
Love should never be a complacent thing.
I forget this sometimes . . .
We take these moments for granted, you and me.
Like now . . .
There is nothing between us but a small piece of distance.
And so long as we are within reach,
we should always touch.
Agreed?
I have been thinking about what the scenery looks like in
different parts of the world.
I began to think how I have never seen the sunset
reflect across the waters in Aruba.
I have never watched the waterfalls in Hawaii,
and I have never seen the sunrise in Cabo San Lucas.
There are so many things I want to see.
There are so many places I’ve never been to before—
and I dream about them often—
but I dream about them with you.
So,
forgive me if I seem too quick or short tempered. . .
I know days pile between then and now.
I know that we were young once.
We had plans too, but age crept in to pull off its trick.
Inevitably, life changed
and so did we.
I once watched the sunset over the desert
in a town called Paradise, Arizona. You were there.
Remember?
We watched the sky change color as the last moments
of daylight faded into the horizon—
I remember this clearly because the reflection in your eyes
was even more beautiful than the sky which it mirrored.
2)
Perhaps I never told you this,
but the way the wind blows your hair away
and reveals your face
is something that makes me want to become
a better person.
The way you smile or laugh . . .
The sound of your voice . . .
I could be anywhere; I could be anywhere at all—say,
like on an empty beach after it slipped
into the cold months of hibernation.
I could be anywhere—and it wouldn’t matter.
So long as I am with you.
3)
It was a strange morning in this place called Limbo.
Your soft expression
seemed to leave an indentation on the pillow,
which lays next to me on a daily basis.
It was strange to lay there and see what
your half of the bed looks like when it’s empty.
This is why I say love should never be a complacent thing.
And since there is nothing between us but a small piece of distance,
and so long as we are within reach . . .
we should always touch.
Agreed?
I am writing this to you.
I write this to the mothers and fathers. I write this to the wife or husband and I write this to the girlfriend or boyfriend. This is for the friend or family member to settle the questions you may have. And how ever many questions you may have and as large as the questions may seem; it all comes down to one word: “Why.”
I do not say my story is like every other—however; I write this Continue reading
America,
I have not forgotten you or what you mean to me. I have not forgotten the dignity that waves in your stars and stripes. I have not forgotten your losses or your gains.
I have not forgotten the damage we have sustained by our own mistakes as a society and as a government. I have not forgotten the land, which I love, or those who have fallen so that I may stand on the ground where I am and call it, “My own.”
America,
I will not listen to the conservative or the liberal; I will not focus on the Continue reading
And so it begins . . .
In seconds, the world will change
and I alone can rearrange my footsteps
to dictate the direction of my future
In seconds,
Now will have passed and grow further from the moment
In seconds, today will be tomorrow
and if I do nothing then nothing will be different.
If I do nothing,
then I will be nothing more than a man trying to serve his time
while sinking into the quicksand of complacent failures
and wondering,
“Where did I go wrong?”
The crowd inside of the union hall was filled with out of work men with out of work attitudes and out of work faces. Most of them are not hirable—which is why they are out of work. They sit in the chairs, or stand around, waiting for either of the delegates to step from the doorway and call out a name. And each morning, they arrive 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
The Written Addiction 