In memory of Walstein Smith (1920-1998), attorney and professor at Baylor University for 41 years   Dear Dad,   Here is a loving letter I am posting for you to share with Mother in the Great Beyond, detailing some events that will delight you, and…

Dear Nanny, I have the timer from your kitchen drawer, white sand still sliding through in tiny grains. Time is trapped in plastic, a green jewel – A prism that mirrors and fractures light. This object rested on your window sill, looking out at green…

#4:  Letter to my father   Dear Dad You would not like it here The world is so far removed from what you remember That you’d be sad, your head dropped down like I had seen it Once or twice when you thought I didn’t…

Coronavirus Social distancing, 6 feet Global pandemic

I tried to see you, the way I want to I want to feel you, the way you want to I have stories to tell you Oh you already knew them You read my mind I can’t have secrets with you I can’t even hold…

Dear Grandad Do I call you Grandad? Or Grandpa. Gramps? We never got to meet so we never got to clear that up. To be honest I’m not sure I like any of them. You do have a pretty distinctive first name though. Valentine Hennessy….

Wondering   For Billy, Who Died Too Young   I am surprised at how often I have thought about you over all these decades. Your tragic end still lingers.   I wonder what has happened to the infant son and young wife. you left behind….

Her mother at her best had only one daily care: “Feed up ungrateful pups, no smile even rare”. Severe, stone-hearted, ever busy with household, her mother was kind of woman ignored and bold. In rare moments she came to mum with a toy, half-broken, with…

Saw the cone gnome fixing up a stop sign today and the mailman and a brown box truck but I ponder as a walked past the delivery van’s smile what keep us grinning while they take our cards up cuz the roads need upkeep and…

Dear Black Mothers, I am sorry that your moments of powerful love were twisted into existential fear. I am sorry that at a time you should be able to revel in your child’s natural life, you are made to feel deep doubts of their very…