Last year I gave my brother, Isaac—who had just turned ten—a machete for Christmas. Isaac and I both agreed this was a most awesome present. But little did we know, as we basked in the bliss of our machete brought glory, our own mother was hatching a plot redolent of The Grinch. While everyone was distracted…
I learned while visiting my Gpas nursing home that the gender ratio for single men in their 80s is many women vying for widowers like Custer made his last stand. My Kenyan brothers taught me never to race them again. Nursing Home Rhapsody “How’d you like…!” Floyd paused, trying to remember what he was…
I’m re-reading Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-reliance,” and hearing it speak to me in new ways as my focus hones in on writing. A lot the essays says is applicable to that profession. Emerson’s second paragraphs begins with the declaration that “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction…
Today I ventured out of Brooklyn and ran to and through Manhattan. Though two days past, Hurricane Sandy can still be felt at every intersection, where darkened traffic signals yield to police officers directing the flow of cars. I’m not sure if this is because I was new to the city, or because I was…
Hurricane Sandy is hours away from letting people in NYC know if she means business or is going to be like her sister Irene, The New York City No Show. The city today has an ominous feel, with dark clouds catching people’s windily worried gazes. Public transport stops at 9pm, when everyone will be…
Dear Everyone, I’m super jacked to announce to all you alls that my second book of poetry, How We Are Human, was released last week. I’m really happy with how it came together. From setbacks that included lost work from a stolen laptop this past March, to my impactful ability to procrastinate, it feels great…
“If there’s turbulence, I will have a panic attack in the air,” Darko told me with a trembling stare. “I asked them and they told me that I can get a refund. I will take the bus.” I set down the proof of my book I was copy editing and put my hand on Darko’s…
If I were the queen of the nest of hornets that lives in my parents’ roof, I would have sent the wasps all at once. I think they would have had better odds, whatever their plan. As it was, the wasps came today one at a kamikaze time, flying into the open window to a…
Today was the day my return ticket was book back to the USA. But instead of being on a plane, I`m in a cafe off Antigua`s Central Park, a red wine in front of me and another week of Antigua on the calendar. Antigua grabs ahold of you like a sea creature. I should have…
Today I learned how to make the color brown, and then I sneezed all over my brother’s acrylic paints. Accidentally, of course, as these things happen. I was day dreaming, about the color brown and the sneeze crept like a cheetah that pounced all over his tubes of paints. The worst thing about sneezing on…
