Larry Benjamin. Wordsmith. Writer. Author.

My Dad, Ray I love my Dad. That’s probably not an unusual statement. But when it’s a gay son talking, there is often some history and work that went into making that a true statement. I love my dad. I saw him two weeks ago when I drove up to visit. I hadn’t seen him in about a year and I realized how much I missed him. When I was younger, my relationship with my dad was… strained . I think part of it was my own resistance to him, thinking he didn’t like the idea that I was gay. So for some years in there, I kept my distance. That changed one rainy Saturday morning in 1988 when I was racing to work outside of Washington, D.C. I was doing 80 when a car merged onto the highway in front of me. I would guess it was going about 40 miles an hour. I slammed on the brakes. I was going so fast and the other car was going so slow, it actually looked like the other car was moving backwards towards me. I’d decreased speed to about 60 at the moment of impact. My car started spinning...

I’ve posted before about the power of books and music to not just transport us and teach us but to save us. It’s in part why I write. And while I don’t write music, or even play an instrument (barring an unfortunate pre-adolescent attempt to learn to play the trombone), I do hear a certain series of sounds, a rhythm as I write my words. But back to music. I heard a song on the radio the other day that reminded me of the power of music. So for Throwback Thursday , I thought I’d share the song and how it saved me. The song was “Groove me Bay.” The version I heard the other day on NPR was the original by King Floyd (1971). But the one that saved me was the later remake by Fern Kinney . The song gave me hope, and while hope is not a strategy it is sometimes all we have. And it was definitely all I had then. Let’s look at the lyrics that were most meaningful to me. You’ve become a sweet taste in my mouth, now And I want to be your spouse. Yep I wanted to get married....

"There’s always a way out and it’s really up to you. You can’t just wait around and wait for things to get better, you really have to take action and that’s what I did. I took action, I left home, and moved to America, which is halfway around the world to just really become myself."  Keep reading .

the poet himself In honor of National Poetry Day I thought I'd share this poem by my friend and fellow writer (and poet) Jose Rafael Prieto. “In Your Lips” In your lips, I search for the freshness of rain. Your beauty, damp with desire and ever-present, is continually born anew, pleasing me now and now and now, steadily. Your love is calm and majestic. Whereas Divine is Law and my physics, you and your love are my event horizon. Copyright © 2015  Jose Rafael Prieto