The Simple Man Chronicles

By T.P. Bailey

Never living in one house for more than a year and having traveled thousands of miles by the time he was 14 this author gives us a unique look into culture as he shares his perspectives with an open mind He pours his heart out into every single word as he tells his most inner secrets and invites us into the tragedy that was his world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.P. Bailey
• Release date: May 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452474885

T.P. Bailey

Having come from an extremely humble background Bailey grew up fast and furious during a time of social turmoil. Bailey was raised by parents who were survivors of the Great Depression. He witnessed civil unrest and was the target of a racial riot during the 1960’s, he searched for himself in the 1970’s and faced extreme traumas in the 1980’s, experienced triumphs and a break down in the 1990’s. In the 2000 he was betrayed by those close to him and in the 2010’s he now reflects on his life and finds that sharing his story to be therapeutic.He’s been everything from a stall boy to a regional manager of a very popular retail outlet and has owned his own business. He has no formal education outside of life. He says that life was his teacher and song writers were his philosophers. Having lived in 7 states by the time he was 17 He now calls Ohio home. He is by his own definition, A Simple Man

Book preview

The Simple Man Chronicles

Poems, Songs, Life Stories and Philosophy

By Miles Cole

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Miles Cole

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to my family.

The contents and work contained within this book is all that of one man. Every word summoned by my soul and poured into print. Every single word in this book has truth to it. Every poem, story and observation is from true events. After many years of concealing the wounds of life with work-a-holism, I was fortunate enough to finally express myself through my own writing. 

Table of Contents

Poems

Via Dolorosa

Three Words

Lyrical Poems (Songs)

Back when I was alive

Working for the Presidents

The Blues Ain’t For Sale

And his eyes said

Short Stories of Life

Children can see right through you

Holler Crawler and the Ghetto Prowler

Family Betrayal

Empathy Not Sympathy

A Summer Story - The Dutch

As the light fade from his eyes

Character

Take your medicine son

The Dangers of Social Networks

The Ghost

The Runaway

Words are Swords

Politics and Faith

In the Name of God

America, home of the free?

My preacher scares the crap out of me and so do you

The Political Gods of Hypocrisy

Painful burdens we gladly carry

The End

Favorite Quotes

Preface

I have lived a life that many would call tragic, and in many ways it was. But within tragedy comes healing. With conflict and confusion comes understanding and acceptance. When you have been relentlessly defeated, you have no other choice but to either lie down or seek triumph, no matter how small.

Others may consider my life to be cursed. But I have come to understand it to be blessed. I am blessed for having known all those who I have loved and lost. I am fortunate to have become an eyewitness to human nature in all its forms. I have come to appreciate every single part of life and extremely grateful for my children, who I now live for.

For three years I went by the screen name Simple Man on a social Networking site. It was there that I found the inspiration to put into words what I have been feeling for so many years.

Chapter One

Poems

Via Dolorosa

I have felt love turn to hate, lived to see compassion become hostility and watched while the guilty judged the innocent.

I’ve been tied to the whipping post by the ones that I trusted. My own remorse cut and stitched the straps that they have used to strike me.  By confessing my own demons I built the cross that I carried.  I have laid still while others kicked me and handed them the rocks to stone me. I have held my held down in shame because I didn’t live up to the standards that they themselves ignored.

I have shown forgiveness to the unforgiving, served a life sentence for the transgressions of my youth. I’ve shown compassion to those who are indifferent to my burdens. Protected my accusers, defended my judges and supported my jailers.

I’ve been tried by my trials, judged by my judgment and faced the consequences served by my own conscious.

30 years of bearing a cross that increases in weight and size as the truth that I confessed grows into the lies of my judges. Judges who wish to discredit their victims in fear that their own truth may be told. 

When I look at the cross that I’ve been carrying I can no longer see my crimes, only the faces of the ones who refuse to set me free. Faces of the people I was taught to love are the ones cracking the whip of guilt, opening wounds that should have been long forgotten and