BED BUG STEW, Tales and Poems on Roots, Revenge, Redemption, and Baseball is now on Pre-sale. All royalties, 100%, during the presale period go to veteran support groups. The books will be delivered starting November 18, 2023.
Go to Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Xulon Bookstore websites or my website to get your pre-order in, now! Don’t forget to read the excerpts below!
An excerpt from the short story DIGNITY
“Now go shower and shave and wear the brown and white shirt, my favorite.” She scooped up the plates and began to hum a nameless tune.
Her favorite shirt used to be his, too, and he wore it the night his best friend died in his arms in their favorite restaurant three months ago.
Yes, time to move on and stop feeling sorry for himself, he thought. Time to get off my butt and act like a man. For her. It was a small request to go to the senior center for a couple hours. Mandy was there once a month, on the third Wednesday or some such; she always had a volunteer event or book club or political or social action meeting a couple of times a week, nothing ad hoc, all prudently planned. She was enjoying their early retirement.
He was miserable. Since he stopped working a year prior his brother, then his old mentor, and then his best pal had all passed on. Dropped dead. Gone. He was depressed and he knew it but couldn’t find the right combination of mechanical activity to get out of his chasm of grief and self-pity.
From the poem Nothing To Wait For
Now!
Begin
The task you
Set for yourself.
Make a deadline, and
Know you can’t control time.
Endings come before you’re done,
Trust that your life has a limit.
Focus, finish, fail, succeed,
Then pray while you still breathe.
Take the blank canvass
And start again,
Another
Dream of
Yours.