We take that right turn down the puddled overgrown road, one car wide with hanging branches we have to duck that even when we do scrape along the roof like a past that never fades to pull into the barbeque shack that looks like it fell down yesterday to have the ribs drip off the bone as you wrap your tongue around the juice slipping down your chin to your finger which you give to me to lick.
We cut to the hayfield edge when the vines emerge and pull fat, dimpled blackberries off the prickled stalks, fingers stained and bloody, tasting all the same, stains at your hips as you remember a day you came home as a kid with the white dress purple blotted with a pocket filled with crushed berries that you stuffed into your mouth because they wouldn’t make it to the muffin dough.
Marched, hands held high with a million others, sang, yelled, cursed, demanded freedom and love; danced to the edge and beyond, stepped through the fog of hate, pushed past darkness to light to declare as one this what we do. Celebrate all the differences.
Sat on a ledge facing fading sunlight to see your face blush with all the youth and years between, to see the lines at your eyes are the knowledge of time that deepens the smile that slides across your face; filled to know that age has made you more beautiful.
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About michaelstephendaigle
I am the author of the award-winning Frank Nagler Mystery series. "The Swamps of Jersey (2014); "A Game Called Dead" (2016) -- a Runner-Up in the 2016 Shelf Unbound Indie Author Contest; "The Weight of Living" (2017) -- “The Weight of Living” was awarded First Place for mysteries in the 2017 Royal Dragonfly Book Award contest;
Named A Notable 100 Book, Shelf Unbound 2018 Indie Book Awards;
Named a Distinguished Favorite, 2018 Independent Press Awards.
Named a Distinguished Favorite in the 2018 Big NYC Book Contest.
Named a Finalist in the 2019 Book Excellence Awards.
Named A Gold Star Award winner in the 2020 Elite Choice Book Awards
Named a Book Award Winner in 2021 by Maincraft Media Fiction Book Awards;
The Red Hand (2019) a Distinguished Favorite in the 2019 Big NYC Book Contest
Named Second Place winner for mysteries in the 2019 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards
Named a Notable 100 Book in the 2019 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Awards
Named a Distinguished Favorite in the 2020 Independent Press Awards
A Nominee in the 2020 TopShelf Book Awards
Named A Gold Star Award winner in the 2020 Elite Choice Book Awards
Dragony Rising (2022) First Place for Mysteries in the 2022 Royal Dragonyfly Book Awards; named a Notable 100 Indie Book in the 2022 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Awards; A Distinguished Favorite in the 2023 Independent Press Awards. A Distinguished Favorite in the 2023 Big NYC Book Awards.
