provide what can be done and what did happen in life. Since we are consumed by life forces and respond based on ethnic characteristics and cultural bias, they can broaden experiences and horizons. For what we do with experiences do more to define us as people and allow us to travel where we have never fathomed.

Therefore, this book of poems is designed to do just that. Like a parachute, your mind must be open before you are able to appreciate the beauty and other splendors of life functions in this environment that affect our total existence.

Provided are snippets of life experiences mixed with humorous gestures of other forces dealt with daily by all of us--if we are blessed to live that long. These voices are not in a vacuum or shouting in the wilderness but are here and now--the voices you don't usually hear. In their daily struggles to exist toward a reward of decent lives, most folks come up short, yet there are those who reach the "halfway decent" mark and begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel and become energized.

Finally, the "halfway decent" views that the "American Dream" may soon be within reach, they work harder but never give up. As the Good Book says, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31 KJV). So I encourage you to join me and see how the other half of Americans live with struggles in their daily lives. With this thought in mind, may peace be with you and God continue to bless you!