This year, I promised myself I would publish one book, a book of poetry to be exact. It's comprised of poems spanning the last decade and some change of my life. I wanted a small win to keep me chugging along on the novel whose first draft is like 98 - 99% done.   After fighting with formatting, and wondering if I've lost my mind more times than I can count, I clicked order on the proof. It won't land in my hands first. The blessing and curse of traveling is that I have to pa

This piece began eight months ago.   Four months ago, our family embarked on a cross-country road trip in a big ass pickup truck with a bigger on the inside fifth wheel attached.  As we reach the junction where our journey is to pivot and expand beyond sea to shining sea, my therapist has tasked me with reflecting not just on the past four months but on the past two years as well and what I’ve learned, what has changed, since I pushed the cremation button and decided to rise

Dust to dust...  I wanted to write this months ago, but I think the emotions were still too raw for me to articulate in a manner that was beyond babbling sobs.  I’ve learned a lot of things about ashes, specifically of the human remains variety, over the past couple of years.   I learned on the day my mother was cremated that while there are all sorts of buttons and settings trained professionals use to ensure the machine works as intended, there’s still one master button tha

It’s been two and a half years since my mother died, and I feel as if I’ve lived multiple lifetimes traveling through the dimensions of grief.  Last year, we sold our house, shoved what we valued into a storage unit, and hit the road.  I figured if the country could collectively lose its goddamn mind, then I could finally stop being scared and do the thing I’ve been talking about doing for decades: see the fucking world.   The experience has been at times harrowing, but alway

January 1st marks the beginning of a New Year for our calendar, but it is not an actual New Year. The Earth wakes up in the spring, and that is when I acknowledge the new beginnings on an earthly scale.   On a personal scale, my New Year begins in February at my birthday… in the dead of winter, when I partake in the ritual of gathering around fire and making a wish for the possibilities of another spin around the sun. In this quiet, before the Earth returns anew, I shed the s

I got louder, weirder, freer.  I broke the lock on my cage for good.  I peeked my head out and took in a deep breath, and I jumped. 

Have a seat on my porch and share in the chaos that is this magical life.

Exploring grief two years later.

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the...

I’l preface this by stating we’ve only shared one Thanksgiving with my in-laws. It was our first Thanksgiving as a married couple and the la

"These performances didn’t come with fame and money, though. There was only grief."

"... where does one go when there's no going back but forward feels too heavy a load to carry."

I wrote this after a wave of immense sadness hit me on Juneteenth. Today we celebrate freedom That's what the white folks think In...

Reflections on the time we don't take.

“I’m fine”… Shhh, you don’t mean that - my heart interjects “No, really, I’m fine” … I protest Why do you lie to them - my heart asks My...

I've noticed a lot of discussions on family trauma center around the immediate family (parents, siblings, and possibly grandparents...

Another trip around the sun.  While I’m not hitting one of the big zero birthdays (I’ve got two years to go before the big 4-0), this...

I wrote this in December of 2020 as part of a writing activity that a then acquaintance, now friend, had come up with. As I move through...

“I feel like there are three versions of myself attempting to coexist in this one body.” Before the holidays my therapist gave me an...

I enjoy gardening. My favorite part of it isn’t the harvest, but the planting or the act of creating a space for roots to grow.  As I’ve...