For as long as I can remember, I have longed to live in a world where everyone thrives—where lives have dignity, dreams count, and stories matter. The possibility of this seems to fade with each passing 21^st century day. So I turn to words: to connect dots, to bear witness, to celebrate and to lament.

James Baldwin wrote: “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” I write in search of words that can speak my language of truth. I write because I believe that what we experience as individuals, what we face, is wisdom we can—maybe even must—offer up to the world.

Words and the alchemy that happens when they meet in line and stanza, paragraph and phrase are what I have.