I'll let words already written in my debut novel PATCHES OF GREY [available at Amazon in print paperback and Kindle format] do the talking in this post...along with some carefully selected pictures.

The Kaos Krew paid little heed to those who supposedlycontrolled their neighborhood. They felt nothing but disdain for landlords,store owners, politicians, and especially cops, who were considered to benothing more than a better funded gang. The boys in blue thought they calledthe shots, but were deluding themselves. The streets belonged to those mostintimate with them.

Was love ever easy for anyone? If less complicated, wouldthis make it less appreciated? Perhaps love was difficult for good reason.Perhaps everything on God’s green earth was the result of a flawless plan, eventhat which seemed most muddled.

When he spoke of love, it was in the manner of someone whocan recite a phrase in a foreign language but has no idea what it means. Heonly knows that it sounds pretty.

Henow realized that right and wrong were intertwined notions. His arms could notdifferentiate between just and unjust causes. They only knew that they wereempty.

They demanded to be heard, even though it didn't seem theyhad much to say. Perhaps the futility and smallness that characterized theirlives was too overwhelming to articulate in any manner other than a primitive,incoherent scream. Maybe it was inevitable that those who felt they had nostake in society would opt to destroy it.

Atightrope walker uncertain if he could make it to the other side probably wouldnot. A racecar driver wondering if he was taking a turn too fast was likely tolose control. If a man feared death, whether his own or the taking ofanother's, death would surely come calling.

Thewall again exerted its magnetic pull. It was just a word. It took nothing fromhim. It made him feel only as low as he allowed himself to feel. His ownbrother used it in conversation habitually. But not in the same way - filledwith malice, overflowing with insult. He couldn't tear his eyes away, shookwith lust for retribution. Six little letters making one huge statement.

It was his experience that life worked under the sameguidelines as a capitalistic society. In order to get what you wanted, it wasusually necessary to give up something in return. Sometimes gaining what youdefined as everything meant losing what you most needed.

Time had taught him that whether his sins were pardoned orleft unforgiven, they would remain committed. Tomorrow he would hopefullychoose wiser, with a stronger measure of compassion.

There were many tomorrows to be lived through his children.He could only hope that they would face them more courageously than he had,that his mistakes would serve as warning signs rather than crutches to lean on.

The genesis of their love was physical attraction, and hiscomplexion had lured her the same as hers undoubtedly pulled him. It was nothis blackness that she fell in love with, but it was a part of him, andtherefore, a part of what she loved.

C.J.had once believed that he understood who he was, what he was about, what he wascapable of. But when the moment came to act upon these convictions, hediscovered that his knowledge of self was faulty. Had his lack of killerinstinct been a momentary lapse, first time jitters? Or was there more to itthan that? If not the fearless, remorseless man he supposed himself to be, thenjust who was he?

Tony and Tanya had grown accustomed to seeing their motherpushed around. Listening to her now, they viewed her as if for the first time.She was indeed a wise woman. She was a teacher. Her lessons would be in how tosurvive, for she possessed a PHD in the subject.

I want it for him too. But the things he wants have a way ofchanging a man. He'll start thinking that the money and the white man'slearning are all that matter. He’ll get himself a college degree and a paperpushing job, and he won't have to sweat and strain to make it from one paycheckto another. That's a blessing. But he'll take it for granted. He'll feelashamed that no matter how different he acts and thinks and feels, he'll beseen the same as the rest of us. The same as me.

Whenit came to race relations, why was the exception so often taken to be the rule?

Butthere was no denying that a generic hatred had been stirred up. Wide spreadingripples can reach calm waters far removed from where a stone has been tossed.

So,he decided to suffer from selective amnesia. Forgotten would be the sound ofJanet’s laughter; the feel of her lips against his skin; the way her hairspread out over his chest as they lay in repose; the look on her face as theymade love; the sound of her voice when she said he was her sun and moon andstars. Only by deleting heaven from his memory did he have a chance to surviveon earth.

Tonywas no doubt looking down on him, thinking that once he was out on his own, hewould never allow himself to be imprisoned by poverty. He would not acceptlimitations that others attempted to impose on his options. He had no intentionof blaming racism for that which was brought about by submission. In otherwords, Tony had arrogantly concluded that he would never become his father.

They all believed back then that love lasted forever. By nowthey surely knew, as did he, that forever was a treacherous myth, thoughprobably a necessary one.