I was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1975. I moved to a small town in North Carolina at age 5 and then to a suburb of Washington, D.C. as a young adult. Having the moral institution and colorful background that comes along with southern living combined with the fast pace and bright lights of the “big city” served to sharpen my outlook on life and people. I have been writing poetry for about 22 years. In the 5th grade I wrote a poem for a school project about the Statue of Liberty which was later published in small booklet made available to students and parents. I later auditioned that same poem as a rap song for a local radio station, which sparked a never-ending affair with poetry and music. As a teen, I would alternate writing poems with writing rap songs and R&B songs. Even at an early age I was inspired to write words that spoke to the heart of a matter in a way that infused rhythm and melody. I would rap anywhere there was a willing audience, including talent shows and school dances. During my matriculation at Elizabeth City State University I was afforded the opportunity to perform on the local radio station and join an impromptu session at a local jazz concert. Some time after moving to Laurel, Maryland, I joined a poetry group in the DC Metro area along with several other published poets. This helped to sharpen my skills and reinvigorate a devotion to poetry that had waned with the anxieties of adult life. Just as my favorite poet, Langston Hughes, had fused his love of jazz and blues with traditional verse, I fused rap and spoken word with traditional verse to create poems that I feel are simple, powerful and pleasant. I now live in Charlotte, North Carolina with my wife Tracey. We are enjoying the challenges of parenthood as we raise our nephew, Michael, and 2 nieces, Andrea and Naticia which has inspired a new dimension to my writing.