Wael Abdelgawad's Blog, page 3

Poem: Lead Me to the Waterfall

Lead me to the waterfall
into the liquid blue
hold me up in that icy truth
the sins of a millenium washed away
the loss and pain,

the years in a room
all the mistakes I’ve made
gone with the laughing cascade.
I’m born in the pressure and roar,
in the sharp and ancient pour.

Don’t just point the way.
I need a witness,
I need a friend.
I will follow you blind.
Take me by the hand

and help me stand in the spray.
Let it batter away
my scarred years.
Gone with the water, gone,
as I rise like a redwood
in the crys...

Sunday Journal: Clear Stories and Thick Chocolate

I learned a Colombian expression: Me gustan los cuentos claros y el chocolate espeso. Which means, “I like clear stories and thick chocolate.” I like that. It makes me smile. I like them together, actually. A good book, a cup of chocolate and a comfortable chair? Heaven.

I had a thought: perhaps the failure of my recent relationship, and the generally lonely state of my existence, is a punishment for the wrong I’ve done in life. I’ve been insincere at times, I’ve hurt people. Maybe on the Day...

Poem: The Promised Land

Take me to the promised land.
I’ve heard it spoken of in whispers.
I saw it in a dream of a city that never existed.
I stumbled through the fog searching

and found tree roots and shattered homes.
Take me to the promised land
where I can mend my bones.
Take me beyond the myth,

beyond the insincere touch,
beyond words that say much
that talk and talk
then turn to dust.

Take me to the promised land
and don’t count to three
because I’m a drought-parched tree
no water to be found
no balm for weathered hands
ex...

Sunday Journal: Fields of Sheep

There’s a couple I see at the gym. I’ve been seeing them for maybe two or three years. The thing is, they’re not actually a couple. They are friends, I suppose. The man is about my age, with a physique that I use as an example of what I should strive for. His body is thick and muscular, but not overly so, and not fat at all. He has short blonde hair and is ruggedly handsome.

The woman is a pale-skinned redhead with a long face and voluptuous figure. She’s in her late late thirties or early fo...

The Road Unfolds

Wael Abdelgawad | WaelAbdelgawad.com

Do you feel like you’re at the end of the road, or you’re stuck, or you’re about to fall off a cliff?

Remember those early sailors who thought the world was flat and they would fall off the edge? They were wrong, because the world is not flat, it’s round. It keeps on going.

You think you’re at the end, but the road unfolds before you like a ribbon of light. You still have far to go. It’s not the end, but the beginning of something new.

Leaving a Legacy of Kindness

No one has ever harmed me as much as I’ve harmed myself. And I’ve never helped myself as much as others have helped me. I’ve been the recipient of great generosity and kindness, all through my life.

People who have helped me in significant ways include Imad Ajaji, Chris MacKnight, Dr. Sayed Badr, Kathleen Button, an anonymous woman in Texas, Joe Strauss, Laura Hale, Nora Smith, Bill and Adam Brunner, Amy Estrada, Bruce Whitsitt, my parents, Haytham Soliman and Kea Grace. I remember these peop...

To be a writer

The Repeaters by W.H. Abdelgawad

By Wael Abdelgawad | WaelAbdelgawad.com

It’s easy to write – or pursue any passion, really, whether it’s art, music, advanced studies or entrepreneurship – when you are single, childless, or unemployed. But can you do it when you are a full-time college student and working a job to survive? When you’re married with children? When you have a high pressure career? If so, then you are a true writer my friend, and you will one day be a published author.

You have t...

The Repeaters has been released!

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Intriguing and riveting blend of urban fantasy and historical fiction!

A select group of men and women live hidden among us. They are known as repeaters, and they reincarnate again and again, growing stronger with each cycle. They inhabit every city in the world, and can sense one another through their powerful auras.

Rix, a scruffy-looking fellow with green eyes and long hair, is a 2,000 year old Belgian prince. He fights with a 300 pound metal rod and is gi...

The Repeaters is Almost Ready for Release!

The Repeaters

Yes, The Repeaters is only a few weeks from release, InshaAllah (God willing). As you can see the cover design is complete. Big thanks to illustrator Daria Rzhanikova for her beautiful work. Also, the typesetting is complete. The only thing remaining is a final proofreading run, which I’m doing now. In the process I’ve decided to rewrite a few key scenes.

Thank you so much to those who have helped me prepare this book for publication. Be patient – we’re almost there!

Poem: Fly Girl

Fly Girl

I see Fly Girl
hanging on by a smile,
thin as a reed,
playing guitar until her fingers bleed.
She’s maybe twenty three.
No one knows her name.
She sleeps in the backseat of a car
in a Blackstone Avenue parking lot,
covering her head with a faux fur coat.
“I’m a bad seed,” she confesses.
“I’m a wreck and a rot.”

You are a child of God, I say,
and you will go far.

I see her at the Kaiser Park playground one night
wearing that fur coat,
swinging slowly on the swings.
“I’m living in the...