Just for fun: The Parole Board
Manhattan, wintertime, 1989
I was dressed somewhat warmly with gloves that allowed my fingertips to poke through and stood on a roof—high above Lexington Avenue and faced the downtown of Manhattan. I looked at the far off lights on the bridges that connected the city to Brooklyn and their reflection that glimmered across the East River. I inhaled the cold air to find a moment of easiness. It was amazing to me how peaceful these sight could be—even Continue reading
I sat on a Manhattan bound bus this morning. I pulled my hood up and with my seat tilted slightly back, I leaned my head against the tinted window to watch droplets of freezing rain drizzle down the side of the glass. I watched the street signs and storefronts pass as the bus moved along Route 17. After more than 20 years of commuting from the east, I now make my entrance from the other side of the Hudson River.
I looked ahead to see the Westside of New York City. The tall buildings reached upwards and pushed into the palm of gray clouds. There was something beautiful and quiet to this. I suppose the cold rain and thick clouds looked like a good reason to stay home in bed. Continue reading
I have always wanted to feel good. Even when I behaved badly, I always wanted to feel something so explicitly pure and genuine. I wanted to feel cleansed—I wanted something to overcome and wash me away from myself.
I wanted to feel as if I were good, or healed, as if to absolve the situations in my mind. I wished for it. I wished I could find something to ease the quiet regret that Continue reading
I am soaring through the pulse of your curves and moving through the swerve of your hips with an incredible fascination for your features and the way you make me feel.
I am wondering what it feels like to touch your skin with splashes of ice water in my hand as I press it against your Continue reading
My First Event
I walked through the glossy wooded front door that was set in a gray stoned wall. I was greeted with a smile by a tall, bald headed bouncer with no neck, hefty arms and a chub-face. He was an over sized Irishman in a black shirt with the word “Staff” printed in white lettering across the left side of the chest. “ID please,” asked the bouncer. This was nice because after we break the 40 year age barrier, it is good to be carded at the door of a bar and made to prove that you are in fact over the age of 21.
I was given a band to wrap around my wrist and a red ticket with the actual word, “Ticket” on it, which was printed in black lettering with a random number across the top and bottom edge of the serrated ticket. Continue reading
I think the times I realize you most are the long quiet drives home while stuck in traffic after a Saturday morning overtime shift. I think about all that goes on in my daily life and all that I am working through. I think about the house, the mortgage, and the bills that come along with it. Then I think about how wild it is to realize that I am an adult. I’m a grownup husband and a dad.
I remember back when I was a young boy and The Old Man Continue reading
Youth
It was Monday morning and my body smelled from the residue of my weekend. I arrived at work nearly on time. My suit, shirt, and necktie were not well coordinated. My hair was slightly long and slicked back behind my ears with an excessive glob of hair gel. I appeared messily and unkempt. My eyes were red from the lack of sleep and my need for rest was the result of young foolishness.
After a long night out, which I swore would end early; I found myself walking through the front door of my home and into my bedroom. By the time I was undressed, I was able to fall on my bed with only two hours before my alarm rang to wake me the next morning. In my early Continue reading
I drove farther east from Westhampton until the south fork of the Long Island narrowed further and almost to its point. The sky had already begun to transition from night into morning. I could hear the sound of a silent car ride; the pavement moving beneath the four wheels of my car, which was a junked blue, four-door Chevy that was neglected and beaten over the years. The cloth interior had its share of stains and cigarette burns in both front and back seats. The headliner above my head drooped down, sagging like a bubble because the fabric loosened from the roof’s interior.
The car rumbled loudly. The deep gurgle from the engine knocked with a slight tinny sound, which perhaps meant that my beat-up four-door was near the end of its road. The odometer stopped well over 100,000 miles; the windows rolled up and down manually and the radio was equipped with an outdated, non-working tape cassette player. Continue reading
He stood in front if the mirror to practice his speech. He stared at his own reflection, staring an intense stare into the mirror, looking at himself to shake away the nerves. He was a man in love. Before each rehearsal, he exhaled strongly through clinched lips, rounded as if he could whistle instead of exhale. He directed himself into action and then he preformed. Continue reading
Saturday morning, January 23, 2016
This is my first snow storm living where I am in the mountains. The conditions on Spook Rock are as follows; winds are coming in from the northeast at 16mph with intervals of heavier gusts. Small snowflakes are coming down on an angle and moving quickly. Visibility is .3 miles and the streets are mainly white. As of now, I only have a few inches of snow. The weatherman and all of his friends told us to prepare for more than 12.
The old headstones in the cemetery at Wesley Chapel are laced with snow. Some of the older and smaller headstones will be buried in white before too long. The sky is a soft shade of pale gray. The cloud conditions are too thick for me to see the Harriman Mountain behind my house. The tall evergreens are the only color in an otherwise gray scenery. The evergreen branches look like outstretched arms with snow resting on them from the fingertips up to the biceps. Continue reading
