: About Me

I have a M.A. and have published three books of poetry. I was raised in foster care all of my first nearly twenty-one years (I am much older now). I am working on a memoir, pertaining to my years in foster care and having been paralyzed at the age of ten for nearly three years (paralysis and recovery). I'm a state worker and I use the job to help finance the independent publishing of my work. I'm a Capricorn. More recently, I have been published in the two most recent editions of Arabesques Review and I am very honored with this accomplishment. I am pleased to present my new book (#4), In The Care Of Strangers: The Autobiography Of A Foster Child. A link to the new book (picture above), provided by the publisher, is found at http://www2.xlibris.com/books/webimages/wd/44901. In addition to the memoir, I have already begun work on a fifth book primarily for the granddaughter, but I might either commence work on a new book of poetry or a book that focuses on putting my father's story together (who he was and how he took up with my mother and sired three sons with her before dying at the age of thirty-six).  Finally, I also volunteer to conduct/moderate a poetry workshop at the Coxsackie Correctional Facility, in Coxsackie, New York, and I am a liaison for the GBS/CIDP Foundation International.

My passion is ...

Private answer, LOL

I know too much about ...

Nothing

My parents always told me ...

I was reared in foster care, so in a sense my parents "told" me that I wasn't good enough to want/love. They told me nothing.

My childhood ambition ...

Simply to survive. I think I did pretty good.

My favorite memory ...

Private answer.

Why I write ...

To tell the world what my parents, the foster parents, and others did to me.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I'm reading junk novels and lousy poetry, but I listen to good music.

My first job ...

Stock boy in a grocery store. I quit it during a snow storm.

My best moment ...

Hard to tell, I've had a few.

My inspiration ...

Richard Wright's work; Many poets; myself (surviving the way I have).

• Helium Charter Member