The Pursuit of Happiness...Baring Your Soul

I must admit, I have not been devoting the kind of time I would like to in the pursuit of happiness...for me, that is poetry. A few more things have been opening up for me in pursuit of acting. Which also brings a great deal of happiness...it's just two different kinds and it can be difficult to explain.

I am absolutely thrilled when I am engaged in both acting and poetry, in nearly any form, doing it or observing it. I just like being a part of people sharing their heart. When it come to poetry though, it seems like there is an automatic community, like no matter how different we are, when we come together as poets, we have the same heartbeat, we all know we've been down roads that could have left us stranded or in the ditch, and we pressed on, repaired our flats or hitch-hiked back to the world of pain that had us fleeing in the first place.

Actors also must bare their soul; there is a part of you that must absolutely be present in order to portray a role with any level of believability. Both require a vulnerability that is not needed in many professions outside of the entertainment industry...but there's something about the poet, that extra little courage it takes to tell your tale, not portray another person's tale but to put it out there in order to enlighten, move, rectify, resolve or any other manner of manifestations that take place when your word goes forth, as you spit your last word, holding your breath for the world to devour, or spit out?

24 Ounce Baby Inspired a Book

After more than 4 years. I have finally completed "The N.I.C.U. Roller Coaster: Poems and Prayers for Parents of Preemies" It was a difficult labor or love to deliver this set of poems after I delivered this micro-preemie.

I'm praying that it blesses many who are going through the trials in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit, not knowing if your child will live or die certainly changes one's perspective on everything in life we thought was important. It showed me what I was made of, I didn't crack (though it felt like I would at times) we got stronger instead of further apart.

This book chronicles the ‘roller coaster’ experience in the N.I.C.U. Not only about my son’s up and down health, but it seemed even more to do with the emotions that I experienced, having a ‘micro-preemie’ child fighting for his life.

Submissions Chicken Soup for the Soul

I just submitted quite a few poems and 1 story to Chicken Soup for the Soul, they have a couple of issues coming out in the future, one on Parenting and also on New Friendship...so I submitted

"Slowly Unfolding" Here is a snippet:

Our new friendship is something…kind of like a cloud
Needed for covering when the sun is too loud.
It is like a rare book, aged, you don’t want to touch
Curious of what’s inside, kept safe in a hutch.

For their Parenting Issue, I submitted "You're a Mommy Now", "Never Refuse a Cuddle", I Am Not Fluent In Squawk", "Return on Investment", Welcome to Motherhood", "Discombobulated", and "Shape Up or Ship Out"

Here is "Welcome to Motherhood"

Welcome to Motherhood

Hocking loogies, feeding baby, trying to cough in the other direction;
Mother’s do not get days off, even when they’re full of infection.
The job is demanding, the boss never takes ‘no’ for an answer;
There’re no days off, even if you happen to be dying of cancer.
There is no debating allowed here, no could, would or should;
This occupation is for life; welcome to motherhood!



Photo taken by: Peter Lang (From the Mass Mutual Commercial Shoot October 2011)

DONE FOR LOVE

Excerpt from "Done for Love"

In order to protect myself,
I had locked up the love starved part so it was neglected;
Thought that better than to let my heart be in an exposed place
where it could be rejected.

I had bottled up so many years of love
always afraid of the outcome to let it go astray;
But now I know what is meant when they say
‘love is best when it’s given away’