Welcome!

I have written my whole life. Stories, essays, songs and more recently poems. I wrote a few story poems for my kids and they loved them. I started writing more regularly so I started a blog where I could share with more people. It served its purpose well but I wanted to make something easier to find and more personalized. So here we are.

Most of the material will be new, but I am going to post some oldies just to give you an idea of what my writing is like. There will also be photos that I take, mostly of nature stuff. There is a link to listen to my music if you’re interested. All my new works will be posted here. I hope you can find something you enjoy on this site, feel free to comment or share with friends. Thanks for visiting and come back again soon!

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Featured post

Untitled

We have wept and we have cheered

sometimes within a day

We have been greatly endeared

sometimes to misled ways

We have stood so very tall

feeling only like an inch

We become ever enthralled

with things that prod and pinch

We rely on all our senses

to guide us through this world

Yet we mount such strict defenses

when surprises are unfurled

We seek a quiet numbness

Navigating where we delve

Yet this calculated dumbness

cannot save us from ourselves

Hypnagogic

While still in the vapors

Of the hypnagogic

Not yet tied down

To the realness of logic

Untethered from life

For a few sacred minutes

When the chains of the day

Do not yet have us in it

The place where we try to

Remember our dreams

Knowing full well we can not

Discern what they mean

For the rock and the soil

Will claim us too fast

And the stars stay above

Our most frustrated grasp

As the vapor secedes

We cling to the shards

And try to extract

Realities barbs

But alas we submit

To its horrible grasp

And wait in our numbness

For a reason to gasp

Favorite Song

Oh the grand swell that enters my heart

When the song now arrives at my most favorite part

That moment of magic, conviction I feel

Though the voice of a stranger the connection is real

The goosebumps arrive, I am racked with a shiver

‘Cause I feel the message they were called to deliver

An emotion I needed that had gotten away

The thing that I had always wanted to say

There is a wholeness to be felt, to be found

When my heart and my mind give in to the sound

Floating; Finding

As my mind flails in a desperate tide

I am compelled to climb inside

Unable just to take the ride

And find out where it goes

I churn the oars with clear intent

And do so ‘til my strength is spent

Discovering where I have went

Has betrayed where points my toes

Now backwards lost and inside out

My brain begins a raucous shout

My face now forced into a pout

When I realize where we are

This cavern that I long to pass

The part of life that holds a class

That ever growing threatening mass

The wisdom gained from scars

Yet in this place so filled with fright

So resemblant of our darkest night

There is a twinkling tiny light

That I have never seen

Now the crowding darkness does abate

As the twinkle seems to propagate

A clarity that has had to wait

To arrive upon the scene

As I prayed for omens, visions, signs

As I searched for answers all this time

As I blamed the powers up to divine

The true foe here was me

The stagnancy that has persisted

The result of what I had resisted

The insight that always existed

Was plain, profound, and free

And as I finally dared to look

There was education without books

Pulled out without the bite of hooks

As the tide washed out again

The dark now fled the space at last

The light burned through the waste so fast

The clarity came like a repast

To fulfill what lacked within. 

The Vital Thread

“This one Nana!.” she said. She pointed to the sparkliest spool of thread in the case. The elder chuckled to herself and replied “Are you sure?” “Oh yes, Nana!” So the elder took the spool and threaded it into the needle, showing the young girl as she did. The girl pictured a sparkling dress, something out of the tales she had been told. Worthy of only a princess or a magical being. She imagined floating through the room to ooo’s and aahh’s, the undivided attention of all the people in the room. 

The machine stopped whirring. She noticed the elder refeeding the thread into the machine. “What happened Nana?” “The thread broke my love, that’s all, don’t worry.” With that the elder was sewing again. Nana was very good at sewing and had made all of her most special outfits since she was a baby. The most special hung in a storage closet in protective bags as if they were skins she had shed as she grew. Each one was the picture of beauty and perfection. Incredibly well made and not a fray to be found, even after living in a closet for some years.

The whir of the machine was the sound of bonding between the two. Since she was about 6 months old the girl would lay in the sewing room and watch her Nana sew, often falling asleep to the soothing sound of the machine. Other members of the family complained about the noise, but to the girl it meant comfort, safety, love. 

Again the machine stopped. “What happened Nana?” The girl asked again. She was older now and her patience was at an all time low in her growth process but she did remember to respect her elder. She was becoming annoyed that her Nana kept stopping the creation of this most important garment. “Can I help you Nana?” “Yes my love, grab that string right there and pull it down to where the needle is, my old fingers can’t grip little things like they used to.” It was at this point the girl noticed her Nana’s fingers. They seemed to exude agility, or at least the idea of agility. They were slender and had a surprisingly strong quality to them despite their delicate taper. Her nails were bumpy with ridges and lightly coated with a shimmery pink paint. The veins in her hand were blue and seemed just beneath the skin giving her skin the appearance of translucence. There were wrinkles too of course, but that aspect impacted the girl the least.

“Thank you sweetheart.” Nana said after the thread had been repositioned by the girl’s young fingers. The elder finished rethreading and began sewing again. The girl peered at her own hands, they were still a little plump but soft. She splayed then wiggled her fingers, watching the back of her hand as she did. She didn’t see the veins in her hand the way they showed up in her Nana’s hands. She perhaps could make out slight traces of blue if she closed one eye, but the differences between the two sets of hands were quite evident. The girl was surprised by the sadness this began in her. 

The machine again stopped. The elder managed to contain the frustrated scream that wanted to ring out, to a heavy sigh. “Well the string has broken again my love.” The elder stated, heading off the inevitable question. “Why does it keep breaking Nana?” The girl asked. The elder removed the spool from it’s designated place at the top of the machine. She Cut the thread to free it and began unravelling it a bit from the spool. “If you feel the thread you can tell that it is made from mostly plastic. That makes it very sparkly but also very brittle. It doesn’t have enough strength or stretch to be sewn in a machine like this.” The girl’s face now fell, weighed down by her disappointment. She took the spool from her Nana and began examining the thread upon it.

It was so sparkly! The light reflected off of the thread in such a way that no matter how she turned it it sparkled in even the dimmer part of the room. She touched the thread, grabbing the end and pulling it away from the spool.It felt coarse and made a soft but crunchy noise as she unraveled it. She examined further and realized that the sparkle was created by a barbed texture. She could feel its spines as she pulled it between her fingers and when she tightened her fingertips around it it snapped with only a mildly forceful gesture. She dropped her hands with this final realization. Her dream of having this very sparkly thread in her special dress seemed to be quickly waning. 

After coming to accept this she said “Nana, I don’t think this is the right thread for this dress.” The elder smiled sweetly, recognizing the compassion and intelligence this still young girl was already growing within her. She wrapped her arms around the girl saying “I think that is a very wise insight. Will you help me pick the new thread we should use?” The girl savored the embrace for a moment more, then stepped back to face her elder. “Nana, you better choose since my first choice was bad.” The girl’s face had a look of resignation on it and it broke her heart. “No my darling, I insist that you help me, it is your dress after all.” “But what if I pick the wrong thread again? We’ll never finish the dress!” the girl said, exasperated in her state of self doubt.  

“What if I give you a selection to choose from that is more suited to our needs? Perhaps it was what I should have done in the first place.” “Okay” the girl replied meekly. The elder began collecting various spools from her vast kit and setting them on a table. The girl began looking the threads tentatively, then picking them up, feeling the spools, unraveling the threads and pulling on them. If one snapped she put it back into the sewing kit. The elder was excited to see the girl exploring with her new knowledge, though she kept a pleasant and somewhat bland expression on her face, her heart was beaming. The girl still seemed conflicted between two of the spools, unsure of whether either of them was adequate.

“Oh I forgot one!” the elder suddenly exclaimed. She pulled the top of the kit out to reveal a deeper storage compartment. It was filled with pieces of beautiful fabric too small to make anything with, various needles still mounted on cards and ready for use, and even a furniture repair needle kit. From this cornucopia of sewing implements she pulled a spool of thread and handed it to the girl. 

It was golden and shimmery, not as sparkly as the previous thread but still beautiful. As the girl unraveled the thread she could feel that it was soft and smooth but still very strong. It had a very silky quality. She finally pulled on the thread and it showed no sign of breaking. Satisfied the girl handed it back to her elder and said “This is the one.” The elder’s heart soared with the reappearance of confidence on the girl’s face. She threaded the machine and got to work quickly bringing the garment together. They talked as she sewed, she, about the different aspects and tidbits of knowledge about sewing and stories from her full life. During fittings the girl talked about school, parental conflicts, and her favorite books and TV shows. It was a well spent evening for both.

Just as the elder seemed to be finishing the garment, the girl’s mother came in with her fingers in her ears, proclaiming that it was past the girls bedtime. The elder turned to the girl saying “You’d better get to bed my love, you have a big day tomorrow!” The girl begrudgingly accepted the command, dragging her feet the whole way out of the room. She turned to look at the almost finished garment one more time. She smiled broadly but the elder could see a hint of disappointment in her eye. She was not worried though because, thanks to her years of experience, she had formed a plan during their sewing session.

The next morning the house was a flurry of activity, Mom and Dad were preparing breakfast and getting dressed in their nice clothes. The girl was watching the activity with excitement with her Nana at the breakfast table. They exchanged glances and giggled amongst themselves as if to say that all the stress of the morning was a bit silly. At one point the girl’s mother turned to her and said “Are you still eating?! It’s time to get ready to go!” The girl’s eyes got very big as she sensed the gravity of the stress her mother was feeling. “Don’t worry” said Nana, “I’ll make sure she is ready.” She motioned for the girl to come with her and they gathered her tights and fancy shoes, hair ribbons, and her basket that she would carry the flower petals in.

They took the bag full of items into the sewing room. “We’re leaving in 5 minutes!” came a bellow from the front of the house. They giggled again together, and then the elder took down a garment bag that was hanging up on a rod in the room. She unzipped the bag and showed the girl the dress. It was beautiful, shimmery and well made. The girl already could tell she would have great fun twirling in that skirt! “What do you think?” The elder asked. The girl examined more closely and she noticed that her Nana had woven the sparkly thread here and there throughout the dress. It was laid in the seams and woven through the hem and neckline. 

“I also loved the sparkly thread.” said Nana “So I added it where it seemed right to, I should have consulted you first but I think I did okay.” The girl beamed in a way her Nana had never seen before. The girl embraced the dress and her Nana. “Thank you Nana!” said the girl, unable to find any other words to express her feelings in that moment. 

Throughout the day many commented on the dress and how beautiful it was but what the elder noticed was the confidence the girl marched down the aisle with. The ease and grace with which she took her compliments and the willingness she had in both being the center of attention and of celebrating the recognized stars of the day. Though she had a long history of sewing, from seamstress to designer and everything in between this was by far her most favorite creation.

Untitled

It feels like turning an orange slice outward

Wrenching it into the wrong position

flexing it away from protection

There is where you access the deep roots of its sweetness

where you can consume every last fiber of the blissful, juicy radiance it offers

Yet there is a brutality to it

Force is required

but what hurts the most is the betrayal

The inversion of that spherical skin against its will

There is resistance

there is a tiny rain of its essence lost in the process.

As you wend toward that succulent prize you can feel the breaking that occurs

how unnatural a process it is

how all the shape that it once knew now becomes flaccid.

The strength once contained there now operates only through habit and has lost all meaning.

As your eager mouth mines it’s treasure from the inner white of it’s skin

once all the value you had perceived has been collected

you release it to fall and it remembers the shape it once held.

It reverts back to that sphere

though misshapen

though bereft of its once solid glory

it remembers, it returns.

 

Charities

Here are various charities that will not only help the protests but also the communities most impacted by racial injustice. If you have any suggestions for additions please leave a comment.

 

Black Lives Matter:

https://blacklivesmatter.com/

 

NAACP:

https://www.naacp.org/

 

Know your Rights Camp:

https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com/

 

Color of Change:

https://colorofchange.org/

 

Black Movement Law Project:

https://bmlp.org/

 

Black Voters Matter:

https://www.blackvotersmatterfund.org/

 

Survived and Punished:

https://www.alliedmedia.org/survived-and-punished/donate

 

Black Journalism Fund:

https://www.localmedia.org/journalism-fund-for-black-newspapers/

 

Equal Justice Initiative:

https://eji.org/

 

Black Emotional and Mental Health Reform:

https://www.beam.community/

 

Fair Fight:

https://fairfight.com/

 

Transgender Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project:

http://www.tgijp.org/

 

ACLU:

https://www.aclu.org/

 

Campaign Zero:

https://www.joincampaignzero.org/

 

Reclaim The Block:

https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/home/#about

 

Community Justice Exchange:

https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/

 

Act Blue Bail Funds for Protesters:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bail_funds_george_floyd

 

Communities United Against Police Brutality:

https://www.cuapb.org/what_we_do

 

Fayette Village:

https://www.facebook.com/FayetteVillage/

 

Historical Evidence of Black Oppression in American History

This list is not in chronological order nor is it anywhere near complete, as I continue to learn I will add to this list. Please leave comments on events you think should be included.

 

The Beginning of Slavery:

https://www.history.com/news/american-slavery-before-jamestown-1619

 

Slavery in the United States:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_United_States

 

Fugitive Slave act of 1850:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850

 

The Civil War:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

 

Tulsa Massacre:

https://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/hbo-2019/the-massacre-of-black-wall-street/3217/

 

Redlining:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20redlining,the%20selective%20raising%20of%20prices.

 

The Green book:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Motorist_Green_Book

 

Segregation in schools:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education

 

Jim Crow Laws:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws#:~:text=Jim%20Crow%20laws%20were%20state,blacks%20during%20the%20Reconstruction%20period.

 

Tuskegee Syphilis experiment:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

 

Attacks against African- American churches:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_against_African-American_churches

 

Confederate Monuments:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials

 

Black Suffrage:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_suffrage_in_the_United_States

 

Segregation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States#:~:text=De%20jure%20segregation%20mandated%20the,Fair%20Housing%20Act%20of%201968.

 

Seneca Village:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village

 

Wilmington Insurrection/Massacre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898

 

Rosewood Massacre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre

 

East St. Louis Riots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_riots

 

Red Summer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer

 

Selma to Montgomery Marches:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches

 

Elaine Massacre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_massacre

Black Leaders, Movements, and Persons of Note

This is only the beginning and focuses more on the historical icons of the fight for equality in America currently. I will continue to build this list and bring in more current examples. If you have suggestions for additions please leave them in the comments

 

Medgar Evers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medgar_Evers

 

Myrlie Evers-Williams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrlie_Evers-Williams

 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

 

Coretta Scott King:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King

 

Malcolm X:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

 

Rosa Parks:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks

 

James Baldwin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin

 

Angela Davis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis

 

Fred Hampton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton

 

Victoria Gray Adams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Gray_Adams

 

Thurgood Marshall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall

 

Endesha Ida Mae Holland-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endesha_Ida_Mae_Holland

 

Muhammad Ali:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali

 

Fannie Lou Hamer:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Lou_Hamer

 

Harry Belafonte:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte

 

Langston Hughes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes

 

Bob Moses:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Moses_(activist)

 

SNCC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_Nonviolent_Coordinating_Committee

 

James Forman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Forman

 

Deacons for Defense and Justice:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deacons_for_Defense_and_Justice

 

Robert F Williams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Williams

 

SCLC:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Christian_Leadership_Conference

 

Huey P. Newton:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_P._Newton

 

Bobby Seale:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Seale

 

Black Panthers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party

 

Bayard Rustin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin

 

Ella Baker:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Baker

 

The Underground Railroad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad#:~:text=The%20Underground%20Railroad%20was%20a,the%20cause%20of%20the%20escapees.

 

Harriet Tubman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman

 

Abolitionists:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States

 

Frederick Douglass:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

 

Freedom Riders:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Riders#:~:text=Freedom%20Riders%20were%20civil%20rights,ruled%20that%20segregated%20public%20buses

 

Sojourner Truth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth

 

Ida B Wells

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells

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