My Early Childhood Was Spent In Newark,

I Got Nice Rejections Explaining That Historical Fiction Was A Difficult Sell. But I Kept Trying.

In Egypt, I Loved The Perfume Of The Lotus. A Flower Would Bloom In The Pool At Dawn, Filling The Entire Garden With A Blue Musk So Powerful It Seemed That Even The Fish And Ducks Would Swoon. By Night, The Flower Might Wither But The Perfume Lasted. Fainter And Fainter, But Never Quite Gone. Even Many Days Later, The Lotus Remained In The Garden. Months Would Pass And A Bee Would Alight Near The Spot Where The Lotus Had Blossomed, And Its Essence Was Released Again, Momentary But Undeniable.

I Pray I Die Before They Day Comes When I Do Not Know If My Sons Are Infants Or Grandfathers.

I Would Have Stayed Forever Within The Garden Of Re-mose's Childhood, But Time Is A Mother's Enemy.

I Like The Way He Danced. And Then I Like The Way We Danced Together.