I was born on Gladstone and 12th St in Detroit in 1965. The '67 riots landed me in and around the Black Bottom. My housing, friends, and activities were dictated by race, which slowly cease to be a factor. I was in and out of state institutions for delinquency, and was sentenced to life in prison at the age of 23. I started writing poetry as therapy for my regrets and disappointments, and it evolved into a love for the craft. I try and have a message or lesson in all my poems to open the doors of my experience to others as others have opened theirs to me.