“Poor wanderer,” said the leaden sky,“How you go on, by and by.For you do not know which way to go.My, how you travel on so.”For I replied to the leaden sky,“You are correct, I cannot lie.I do not know which way to goIf I go the wrong way, please tell me so.”“My child, lie down…

I come from faithThe faith deeply felt by Michael and Margaret Fitzpatrick as they traveled to the unknownEllis Island, leaving family, security, countryI come from hopeThe hope deeply felt by Michael and Margaret Fitzpatrick as they provided for a family ofeight during the Great DepressionI come from loveThe love deeply felt by Michael and Margaret…

December 1994Anthony is sunken into the queen-sized mattress pulling his knees up to his chin. He clutches at his ankles withblistered hands. Hands that had built some of the structures that surround the city, but he would never notice.His palms are thick and brawny. Big blue veins emphasizethe muscles that gloat over his metacarpals. His…

Let me think about where my journey began.Strange faces, new places, strum basses, sax cases, cool aces, oldvases, fun races, strong paces.I had to say bye to the known, face being on my own, feeling like I’m allalone, call mom and dad on the phone, feeling that pain… I just had tomoan.When I woke up,…

Pomatomus saltatrix, you showed me how to loveIn lapping of the waves against the gallows’ posts aboveThe gentle bay, forever clear, where barnacles sing ofA heaven freed of ugliness and brutal death thereofThe fisher boy had broken yet like tawny August dawnA tiny speck of cold and sweat dripped slowly down uponA bare yet gilded…