Empty words

I still remember the exact day I found out I was black. I went three glorious years completely removed from the concept of categorizing human beings by the activity of their melanocytes. In my three-year-old mind, people were kind, or mean--protective or untrustworthy. I was learning to put together letters to read words. I remember …

Changing Ocean Blue

I waited in excitement for a friend who agreed to come over and watch a film. So many people agreed to things, then cancelled, that I formed a list of dependable candidates in my head, no matter the type of relationship, and she was one. She was definitely someone on the path of friend and, …

C Minor Means I Love You

C Minor Means I Love You Ink stained Johannes’s right hand as it glided across each staff, placing veins of musical chords around skeletal rests, and the writhing muscles of crescendos, decrescendos, and repeats. A being emerged full of life and vitality to dance in his mind and bring pleasure to his ears. The darkness …

Shadow Self Paradigm

I looked out my bedroom window. I only saw darkness and shadows. The dream box portion of my brain sifted through all color and shapes to reconstruct a city called Montréal. A series of thoughts and random acquaintances landed me in this bed, city, and time. If my family had favored Spanish over French, would …

Odyssey Continues

The universe has an ironic, witty, sense of humor: the kind that gives you the middle finger, and best compliments, all wrapped in one. After spending the last few weeks nursing a wounded ego more than stone heart, I rode the emotional roller coaster in all its glory. I only wanted what I could not …

Hiking With Demons

My work colleague informed me that I disappear like a coward, when things become difficult in my romantic life. She is absolutely right. I hold that title as a Red Badge of Courage. I wonder where I can pick up my award? After every failed amorous prospect, I run to the mountains. I do not …

Wrong Timing

She could be the love of my life. We could be destined to meet time after time in an unbreakable cycle, but the timing could always be wrong to repel us once again, so far from one another. I left my friends to continue the drinks and merriment that had been my temporary, emotional reprieve. …