Neither one of us were expecting much, since it was a holiday weekend and everything was booked. We’d driven most of the way in total darkness, aside from the headlights of gridlocked traffic on the opposing side of the road, which felt like accusations. You didn’t see this coming. You didn’t plan ahead. I told…Read more 4th Street
J
“he never says anything off the top of his head”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple
What Happened
Several years ago I got to hear Dr. Bruce Perry tell the story of a little boy named Jesse. I stood next to a potted tree in a crowded conference room as adrenaline perfunctorily coursed through my veins. That was my routine baseline back then. It was normal for my heart to beat like a…Read more What Happened
Don’t Lose Your Head
Temperance I was sound asleep when your hands Clamped around the base of my neck Impressing you into repressed she Told you it was too hard But you never listened Muffled between the sheet, backseat and steeplechase You stuffed your own mouth with the dirty socks and duct tape of chronic criticism Lies Forced us…Read more Don’t Lose Your Head
Wondering
Or, is being trauma-informed the essence of enlightened Love, which is what some of us call God? But first, a little context. Back in the late 90’s two white, male doctors conducted a study out of Kaiser-Permanete and essentially discovered an irrefutable link between childhood adversity and adult health outcomes. The study, Adverse Childhood Experiences,…Read more Wondering
Gold
Binge watching global human excellence, and this breath of pure and priceless wisdom is the best of it all. My therapist is also a sports psychologist. We were talking about the intersections of trauma, threshold anxiety, and the general terror that comes from attempting to be our authentic self (for me anyway…my inner child constantly…Read more Gold
Uni-Fly
That still small voice Paddles blindly towards ecstasy The longing every soul is born with Breached, bleached or broken We all began in a bloody puddle of pain Slotted hearts wade in salty pools of tears Dredging for substance Milky silt and flesh Featherless fledglings cry For feet that can’t set us free or hold…Read more Uni-Fly
Werk This
Hot topic. The neurobiological fact is, stress and sociological trauma responses, including Flight and Freeze, have been grossly mislabeled as laziness by a western, capitalist society that refuses to acknowledge how its oppressive paradigm hurts people who are already attempting to heal from other forms of trauma. It’s a brutal double whammy. I speak from…Read more Werk This
M. o. C.
A violent cacophony Screamed from their Son reaching towers Falling to attentive blades below Cutting the frequency with which he diminished her A foreshortened life Shrunken To accommodate the appearance of guests Who’d never guess They were anything but happy Once you cross the bridge between here and never mind There’s no going back without…Read more M. o. C.
The Greatest Query Letters of All Time
Other G.O.A.T Queries: 1. Dear Agent, You appear to be a well connected genius. Your hair is very nice (even though your website picture is from like, five years ago). I am a very smart person who is well qualified to tell my story. I have fancy degrees and a marketable face. Also, I don’t…Read more The Greatest Query Letters of All Time
Born in Providence 