Let me start by dropping a little about myself. I was born in Youngstown, Ohio, which once was a booming steel town located between Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, Ohio. I come from a family of eleven kids, six girls and five boys, being the second oldest boy. One sister Alison, who we called Opie and one brother Lyndon, who we called Wink, may they rest in peace, passed away after long hard fought bout’s with HIV.

Growing up with just one parent, my mom’s (as if you didn’t know) times were hard. Never knew my old man who is now deceased. By the time I finished school we must have moved at least eleven times. It seemed like every year we moved to a different neighborhood. By the time I was a teenager there wasn’t any place I could go, and not know somebody.

Coming from a large family with just your moms left a lot of chances to get into trouble. And believe me I did. I went through the whole street thing, packing, slinging, jacking. And of course chasing the ladies thinking that I was slick, (but you tell me back in the day what young brother didn’t) always trying to run some kind of game.

I’ve now been married for over twenty-five years to my lovely wife Toni whom I met when she was fourteen. When we married I was twenty three and she was twenty. At first we thought about eloping so we cruised over the state line to P.A., pulled up to a phone booth and tore some pages out of the telephone book looking for a J.P. But our families put a stop to that. Wasn’t going to be no eloping. About two weeks later we married in my mother in-laws living room. Some family members and a few of my wife’s friends attended, but none of my home boys was there. It was a small ceremony. For a marriage to work and last it doesn’t have to be a big fancy expensive affair.

Before we married I was grinding in a foundry but had gotten laid off. They had a plant in Cleveland so I transferred there. So after the wedding we moved to Cleveland. Things didn’t get any better because shortly after the wedding, I got laid off again. A year or so before we married, I had taken a trip to Texas and saw great opportunity there, so we relocated to Houston.

I had a thing for art, and when I was in junior high school one of my teachers noticed my talent and hooked me up with art classes during the summer at an art museum, completely paid for. But after a few classes it didn’t last. I was young and wild and wanted to hang with my boys and get into stuff. So I stopped going and you can believe me when I say I’m kicking myself now. But my love for art didn’t stop there because later on I started painting with oils and acrylics and have sold quite a few paintings.

I also loved a good book. I can remember reading a good book and not wanting to put it down until I finished it. Sometimes I would fall asleep with a book across my chest. I loved poetry and have been writing for over twenty years now. So after seeing the things that the ladies, who some of us refer to as Boo’s, go through in their lives, I decided to write this book of poetry and poetic short stories. I‘m hoping it will enlighten, awaken, instill pride and respect in them, as it is meant to. I’m talking about you Boo and your home girls too.

Copyright © 2006 by T H Brown  No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or manner electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the author

Published by T Brown Enterprises P.O. Box 750843 Houston, TX 77275-0843  (281) 484-7037 

e-mail tbrown1900@att.com