never did i want for anything really…it was all gratis…given to me by pimps…whores…junkies…speedfreaks…alcoholics…the wretches of the world…those who had been forgotten about long ago by brothers and sisters…moms and dads…school teachers and priests…

i would sit and listen to their stories every night in homeless shelters…soup lines…basements of Catholic churches and Synagogues…for some reason they all thought they could spill their guts to me…they thought i gave a damn about their plights in the world…thought i cared ’bout their struggles…no one in this world truly cares…

truth is…i neither cared nor didn’t care…i was neutral in the whole matter…if a guy told me he once killed a man for the hell of it…i figured sure…why not…probably had it coming…if a guy told me he was sick and depraved…i congratulated him on accomplishing something in his life…

all i wanted were the stories these guys told…their truths…and their petty lies…i figured this was my job…to write about america…the underbelly…the guts…the shit that pours out of us daily…that’s all i wanted from this land of ours…that’s all I ever wanted…