TURNING TABLES

I can feel you Slinking around In my periphery You’re waiting For me to search My surroundings To find the cause Of my unease You’re loving Every second Of my discomfort But… My apprehension Isn’t real I am playing To your fantasy I secretly delight In being the one That’ll expose The terrors You’ve planned…

#BeREAL – MICHAEL JASON ALLEN

I first met Micheal Jason Allen when my daughter and I signed up to be extras on a movie set.  My best friend Yousef Kazemi wrote and was directing a movie called The Stand-in.  Follow its progress here. He was a well-dressed man (because we were in the wedding party) with a bowtie and a…

NIGHT ORCHESTRA

The shadows dance On the brick wall Above me Like dark flames Licking At mortared lines The streets leap to life As car horns play tag With a million voices An orchestra of night Playing a new tune While I make a place To lay my weary head In this alleyway I’ve learned to call…

#BeReal -STEPHANIE MUSARRA

Please help me welcome Stephanie Musarra to #BeReal as she shares with us her experience with homelessness.  It is easy to make assumptions about someone who is homeless because let’s face it… many of us have never been there.  We tend to believe this is a problem we will never be faced with.  But I…

IF WE COULD BE WE

  For now… I close my eyes And imagine I don’t feel the sting Of your absence The thousand miles Of dotted lines On asphalt roads The distance searching And measuring the space From here to there From me to you For now… I close my eyes And imagine It’s you I feel Stealing my…

MATCHING NOTES

Maybe the notes Flow through veins Catapult memories From snapshots To movie streams Maybe the notes Harmonize With your breath Reconcile With your thoughts Or maybe they just Keep you alive Until you find Someone who Understands And hears them The same as you

RECOGNIZING RACISM REQUIRES US TO SEE IN COLOR

I’ve heard people say “I am colorblind” when the topic of racism arises. I know what they mean to say… “they” meaning white people like me… mean to say they love all races equally. I may have even said it before myself. But I’ve come to understand why it’s not helpful. Furthermore, why the concept…

IT’S A TYPE OF VIOLENCE

They say the more you love someone the more it hurts to lose them.  They say it’s worth it.  But I don’t know who “they” is. I’ve watched people dear to me lose the love of their life and… they say different things.  They want what they had back because to be without them feels…

ON THIS BROKEN DAY

I went off my medication.  It isn’t doing me any good.  I still hurt.  I still cry.  I still mess up.  I still feel worthless.  It’s been years.  My normal.  It’ll always be part of who I am.   The guillotine fell Quick and sharp Cut all the tears The screams short The body left…