Nowhere to go, no need to get there, nothing on the other end — We called them road sodies The faded sign over the cooler door read Big Boys on Sale We didn’t care what the hell they were called We were newly twenty one A quart of beer for seventy five cents Brown paper bag for discreet driving included All we needed to know Twelve please, a long drive…

If you don’t chase your writing with intensity you never improve — If you don’t chase your writing with intensity you never improve. The proof is in your work. If you are still writing at the same level you did a few years ago, then you have not dedicated enough writing time to force yourself to get better. You look back at…

Someone once asked me where I am from. Nowhere I said — Three-room broken-down house Mother an earthbound angel of the morning light Stepfather, a raging, drunken demon singed by the eternal fires Cheap bars on every corner Seven day a week homes for the old, the pathetic, the lost, ones with no choice but to drink… pour it down until the pain is numbed…

There is no failure in writing unless you fail to write — Good writing is a journey of persistence along a known path, paved by others who have mastered what you need to learn to be successful. You set out on this path as a new writer, full of powerful ideas and new revelations, but often your writing remains unread and ignored…

My love your warmth against the coldness of life yet to come — Sleep my precious child Snuggle deeper in your fuzzy pink blanket, stay wrapped in my arms keeping you safe Dream the dreams of a life yet to be lived Let me sing you the songs of my soul I would hold you forever my lovely baby Hiding you from the sadness life brings to those so pure Shielding…

What seems lost is not gone forever — Flowers will bloom again in the hidden gardens, the chilling rain of early spring becoming the warm touch of life Children will giggle once more in shyness, hiding behind their mothers, remembering days of family as days of love. New friends will shake hands, smiling in the greeting as old as man, and missed friends…

A relentless force traveling a thousand miles to cleanse my soul — Stood watching the river at sunrise Sun already burning the day, the black mud on the bank gripping my feet No sound but the gentle lapping of the water on the shore I waded out in the cool water Something I have been doing most of my life Standing still, I could feel the current tugging…

My only way to Heaven is sneaking in the back door — Sitting on God’s fence in His backyard. Crowded up front with so many begging to get into His house. And the lines… looks like The Walmart on Black Friday, thousands of desperate people who will trample you to death to save twenty dollars on a big screen television. Strange the…