Not Like Everybody Else

Book excerpt: A Note from the Author I write many poems, they are like diary entries for me. They commemorate and explore significant moments in my life. I do not necessarily write my poems for a public audience or with the goal of conveying a specific meaning to a reader. It is my hope that the words, images, experiences, and feelings conveyed in my poems will speak to the lives and emotions of the benevolent and brave people who take time to wander through this book of poems. It was only because of the encouragement of friends and family that I found the motivation and insanity to solicit a publisher for my book of poems. My early poems can broadly be considered a reflection on how we often make decisions that create distance between who we are and the people we want to be. My more recent poems deal, in part, with the adjustment inherent to the sudden and unexplained arrival of love and the process of, and choices involved in, moving from youth into adulthood. Along the journey are poems that were written for the purpose of seeking to understand myself and to be deciphered by others. Also included are many poems written only out of a spirit of spontaneity and fun.