There is a certain quiet to the noise of the people recreating downtown, laughing, sharing stories and memories. It is the late eve community celebration of fall, which the tall third floor windows dull but not drown out.

Quiet has become a theme of my life. From the silence before the first poems is requested an an event….The careful choosing of words in the cacophony of noise, the subtle but brief turn of phrase in a rounded-out poem, the patient waiting in silence for a client to confirm they want a poet for an event as taut as the air in morning prayer daily by my bedside. When the time for words comes, I wish for these poems to take wings like the hummingbird in my original Walking Mall Poet logo, to fly above the interlocked downtown bricks and inspire something in the paaersby, something eternal.

What am I proudest of in my work? How in my work at The Good Listening Project, my poems can reflect the presence of existence, of how even ailing health has a glory only verse can truly honor. But, what gives me the greatest thrill? Surrendering to the street, the tip jar and Venmo QR code, letting the Walking Mall where this art of mine was born be as pure or merciless as she wishes to be. It is the public square, the meeting place. There America still speaks in the street preacher as much as the busker.

This is the energy I bring to my With Ink events: a tireless, uplifting appreciation for the divine Beauty, letting the whimsical word spin not just with intricacy but meaning onto the page. And when I’m not writing, I’m creating a space where other, oft more talented poets, can do this in their own way, with clasy skill and style.

It is late in a Friday night inside an office above the Walking Mall of downtown Winchester, Virginia. And in the I am busking, busking like never before.