One night — cold, windy, the kind of night Chicago hands you without apology — our phone rang. His friend said something that felt both impossible and totally believable in that downtown melting pot.
“Get down to Buddy Guy’s Legends right now. We’re playing pool with Buddy and Eric Clapton.”
I’m meltin’ away where the daylight bends •
I’m meltin’ away no start no end •
I’m meltin’ away dead or alive it’s all the same •
I’m meltin’ away the mirror laughs and forgets my name
Thunder breaks me open from within.
Lightning strikes the peak
of my secret garden.
A twister forms,
pulling all the air inward.
As it touches down
At the center of my flower.
A rhythmic thirst pulling me deep,
My hips begin to rise,
I grasp the sheet, holding on,
not to be sucked into the storm.
The Piano That Found Me:
ACT I: THE FOG I WAKE UP IN
Most mornings
I wake up
ninety percent inside a cloud.
Not sleep.
Not dreams.
A fog that lives behind my eyes
and refuses to lift
no matter how well I behave.
When I woke from the big sleep,
eyes wide open, then closed,
clarity burned brighter than the sun.
The veil tore,
cast into the fire,
with all my other doubts.
The Spine of the Sun Where Light Breaks Open is a poetic odyssey of resilience, transformation, and self-reclamation. Told in four acts, this powerful collection explores the depths of survival, the echoes of silence, and the fire that burns within those who refuse to be broken.
