With bureaucracy, cities are filled with coal black odor and oily propaganda
With a nation split, curbsides are weeping
ignored tears
With silent voices, the suburbs are submerged in delinquent credit cards
With unlocked screens, cybersecurity is ringing in their ears
With devastation, vacant buildings are filled with cynical vagabonds

Within the letters from Johnson Boulevard
I can feel the thunderous chill
I can feel the drops of poverty hit the ground

With phobias, the empyrean is brimming with frozen echoes and hallucinations
With trampling chaos, wallets are vacant and figureheads spit out quarters
With melancholy, anklebiters and adolescences lose a pinch of oxygen
With blatant defamation, freedom is pulled and slapped
With misinformation, points of view are written with a vindictive tongue
With fraudulence, whispers and blackmail are sleeping in a king size bed

Within the letters from Johnson Boulevard
I can feel the winter’s nights subside
I can feel the battle’s fire descend

With deceit, finger pointing and raised eyebrows come with nail biting
With money laundering, hands of indulgence
are shaking
With bombshells, ammunition comes in diabolical forms
With sleep deprivation, insomnia is staring at the eyes of the moon
With coercion, manipulation is a bouquet of addictive flowers
With anger, the dust is swept away under a hand knotted rug

Within the letters from Johnson Boulevard
I can feel the pride sparkle like a star
I can feel the graveyard’s breeze glisten

With commentary, opinions shuffle and parade in the opaque air
With disregard, wings disintegrate and laughter is tossed in the dumpster
With hopelessness, arbitrary symptoms turn into a derogatory spell
With disinterest, the jargon is masked with ill conceived agendas
With double talk, the carelessness tone is at full volume

Within the letters from Johnson Boulevard
I can feel liberty silently falling from her cheek
I can feel the compassion scream as the ink dries


My books are available here.

I applaud you for the tenacity you carry on your shoulders
I applaud you for the worth you see in your sensitive skin
I applaud you for the struggles you slowly shed
I applaud you for the fight you possess

Deep into the traces of your veins
lies the sterling wings of a divine messenger

I could fall for your grace on stage

I applaud you for the courage that’s woven on your heart
I applaud you for the compassion in your finger tips
I applaud you for your articulate and sharp tongue
I applaud you for the irresistible flame that burns within

Deep into the traces of your veins
lies the sterling wings of a divine messenger

I could fall for your backbone in the limelight

I applaud you for the drops of heartache you turned into strength
I applaud you for the affliction you endured and overcome
I applaud your for not staring into your past with sinister eyes
I applaud you for the intuition you carry like a candle

Deep into the traces of your veins
lies the sterling wings of a divine messenger

I could fall for your aurora without touching your skin


My books are available here.

I use to wear a serenading taxi cab colored sweatshirt with a patch of of birds heading south for the winter to Morgan’s house
She’d always laugh at the caption below
“Are we there yet?” and pour me a drink
She paraded her fathers den that reeked of nicotine and late night affairs
Flipping through the eclectic taste of albums
Spinning the quarter in the afternoon air
Indecisiveness roaming like a soldier
Morgan was the advocate of passive aggressiveness
Mumbling curse words and playing with a rubber band in tangled dialogues
Morgan would often lean in and tap her fingers on my thigh as if she was playing the piano
Slightly obtrusive and deliberately coy
Consistently playing word games with my emotions
Shouting “Love is fickle, but you could dance with me for a nickel”
Often devilish wearing a copper halo
Tossing idioms between stirred pauses
Blatantly ignoring the officer in the pictures on the olive walls
She referred to him as the man that dragged her from state to state
Leaving her in decorated homes with meaningless jewelry
Constantly toying with closeness and distance with my lips in the sanctuary
Shaking my head from the autumn perfume
From month to month my title changed from tool box to aberration
On that fateful hour I made the doorbell sing and no one replied
Glancing down at the welcome mat I picked up the ivory envelope
Ramblings were engraved and cemented
Paragraphs leaving a starry eyed melody
Entranced by the last line that catapulted reality
“The officer who claims to be my father hasn’t taught me how to say goodbye”

(1st Verse)
I’m an exhausted lover on the inside
A part of me just needs a friend
I need something that I can truly feel
There is a part of me that can no longer pretend
I need someone that can care and not just take
I need someone that can’t be fake

CHORUS:
I’m tired of building shit on quicksand
I’m tired of treading water, can you reach out your hand
I’m tired of falling and hitting face first into the ground
I’m tired of screaming on the inside where no one can hear a sound
And you know who you are
Just like me, I’m crying within these invisible scars

(2nd Verse)
I’m a broken man who needs some understanding
A part of me needs someone like myself
I need something that I know is real
There is a part of me that can admit needs some help
I need someone that can care and can give
I need someone that knows how to live

CHORUS

And I can hear those words loud and clear
And I know deep inside you have the same fears
And you know who you are
And I can feel the doubt and danger
And I know we are distant strangers
And you know who you are
And I’m writing verses with you in my head
And I’m like you, lonely in this bed
And you know who you are

CHORUS


My books are available here.

I didn’t advertise this and I should have when I released this book, the majority of poems are personal. This collection was written over a long period of time. Through out my life I’ve used writing poetry as an outlet because I had no one to turn to. My mother passed away at a young age, 48, due to health issues. I grew up watching her being sick but take it like a champion. She was one of the first people to have had a liver transplant. Due to medicine, the medicine at the present time killed her kidneys. Because of this, I struggle with intimacy in many ways. My father was an alcoholic and in my twenties I married one. In my thirties I had outgrown my ex wife and wanted more in life as she digressed. She made the choice to say she didn’t have a problem when she did. Long story short, she killed herself after our divorce and left her daughter behind. I can admit I was not a perfect husband, I did some things I shouldn’t have done.

I went back to school to improve myself while trying to work. During that time, I met the woman I eventually married – a strong but vibrant woman. I fell in love with her ocean blue eyes and her gentle spirit. She works in the medical field to save lives and commend her for that. I now have a four year old son that looks up to me and strive to be a better person.

I want my writing to serve several purposes. I want people to look inward and identity their own destructive patterns that prevent them from any form of growth. Perhaps if you can recognize them, you can see them in others. I think most answers that we seek are within ourselves. We do need help from time time, but essentially it starts with being honest with yourself. But we struggle to look at ourselves because it’s hard.

Although I’ve started out writing from a personal place, I trained myself to write from different perspectives by observing humanity. I’ve also learned to write just for fun, for me, and to challenge myself to approach the writing process from a technical stand point.

I often use humor and sometimes am inappropriate at times because I don’t want people to know the real me because the real fear is that they will leave me. Making and maintaining friendships is a challenge. I don’t have any male friends that I do things with and to some degree I am ok with it for various reasons. I go by the motto “a pen and a piece of paper won’t leave me like people.”

I am a work in progress like everyone else.
Today was the day I felt the need to share my a part of my story.


My books are available here.

Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight,
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the marquees weren’t weeping, they went stark-raving mad,
And the cabbies were the only ones that really had it made
And his cold trousers were twisted, and the sirens high and shrill,
And crumpled in his fist was a five-dollar bill
And the naked mannequins with their Cheshire grins,
And the raconteurs and roustabouts said “Buddy, come on in, ’cause
‘Cause the dreams ain’t broken down here now, they’re walking with a limp
Now that Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight”
And nobody flinched down by the arcade
And the burglar alarm’s been disconnected,
And the newsmen start to rattle
And the cops are telling jokes about some whorehouse in Seattle
And the fire hydrants plead the Fifth Amendment
And the furniture is bargains galore
But the blood is by the jukebox on an old linoleum floor
And what a hot rain on Forty-Second Street,
And now the umbrellas ain’t got a chance
And the newsboy’s a lunatic with stains on his pants, ’cause
‘Cause Small Change got rained on with his own thirty-eight


I was in my room shattered. I thought he loved me. I saw a vision of a life with a man who turned out to be a child. Not a boy but a child who ran away because he was terrified. He was scared of the word love. It became too real. He tarnished my soul. He took something away that I can’t put my finger on. I turned off the light and crawled underneath the covers. I couldn’t close my restless eyes. My world had crumbled. How can a man touch my skin the way he did and walk away? How can a man kiss these lips and walk away? It felt like I was on a roller coaster and I was no longer going up hill. It was all down hill and could feel the crashing of the silent wind echo. Although he may have thought he had broken me but as I said I’m shattered. It translates that I can pick up the pieces and put them back. No man will ever break me that I can’t get up.

Epic lyrics

Monstrous voice

Pounding drums

Seesaw guitars

Blazing riffs

Number one hits

Platinum records

Illuminating creativity

Revolutionizing sound

World class innovation

Thought provoking words

Messages embedded

Born to be a legacy

The one and only…Dang!

Holly Rene Hunter is the “House of Heart” blog. When I do stop by and read her blog I am quite impressed. Holly does a great job creating beautiful imagery. She writes with elegance and it’s almost as if I’m reading a famous poet from the 1970’s. I am always impressed when I read her blog. I enjoy the choices of word and style. Some may not know this but she also has a book. I encourage for others to take the time to read it.

Please check out her blog if you have not.

I take the time to do this because it is very time consuming for a blogger to answer questions for an award that is offered to them. This is my way of appreciating them without doing a bunch of work.