Mark Holland, he owned the hostel where I could no longer afford to lodge; with grace, he insisted I stay.   Mark treated my poems like hundred dollar bills; If I read them to him, and listened to his lectures on music, I could stay, and food was on him.   One night, Mark was … Continue reading The Skyscraper, Not the Cold, Bitter Wind →

  Walking helps me meditate.   My thoughts: streaming, roaming, like wind, or birds flying.   No obligations… except to walk, and meditate.   The sky, a sheet of blank white paper.   I wish it would snow.   Yes, let winter arrive early!   Make it colder.   Cold air, so blunt, stimulating, ordering … Continue reading Perambulations →

What the hell… do these “history teachers” …teach?   “Texas officials: Schools should teach that slavery was ‘side issue’ to Civil War,” says a Washington Post headline.   “Side issue?”   In the midterm elections, several Republicans sought to stifle the Black and Native American vote.   A few weeks ago, we witnessed… the worst… … Continue reading Exclamation Point →

Fear of dying in my sleep…of dying in poverty, no career I climbed up to reflect on… just a plethora of aspirations and thoughts racing like a flock of thousands of birds headed south…while America’s democracy and rule of law corrode…gin and prayers fail to relax me…   But I am like my grandmother.   … Continue reading Dream Catcher →