The Definition of A Man

About the Book

His writings are a reflection of his struggles in dealing with loss, heartbreak, and falling in love over the past 17 years. Walk with him through his journey and experience this heartfelt, honest, and emotional past that has transformed him into the man that he is today. His words are sincere, thought provoking, and uplifting. I hope this book helps you to understand and appreciate his metaphorical vernacular as his poetry exposes his human and vulnerable sides with the world....................ENJOY.

About the Author

" This book is a thought provoking, honest, and heartfelt poetry in narrative form, that will captivate the reader into something that we are all familiar with... love, heartbreak, and growing into one's self. Inspired by years of putting my thoughts on paper, I am now ready to share the most inner part of myself with the world, as a way to inspire and help with healing and moving forward in life. On September 10, 1996 an unexpected event happened which has changed my life forever. My older brother, Marcus A. Jones had been scheduled for a routine kidney transplant at age 26, due to an unexpected illness while serving in the United States Navy while in Oakland, California. After being medically discharged from the US Navy and returning to Warren, Ohio as his disease got progressively worse, which then required dialysis three times a week. As many kidney transplant recipients hope and pray at some point they will be added to the Kidney transplant registry, well my brother received that wish, as hopes to live a normal life that he had expressed to me the day he received that call informing him that a match was located and that he would need to report to the local hospital for pre-op testing. While stationed in El Paso, Texas serving my last 2 years in the US Army, on September 1, 1996, I received a phone call from my sister at 1030am that day, having the day off, after answering the phone my sister asked if I had spoken to Marcus, because he had something very important that he wanted to tell me, stating the he had been trying to contact me in which he was unable to get thru statng that the recording said all circuits were busy. Briefly speaking with him, he seemed anxious and had a lot of concerns regarding the surgery and pre-op instructions that he would be getting once he arrived at the hospital. During the course of our short conversation my attempt to reassure him, and that kidney transplants had come a long way with new technologies in place today. Recently married that July of 1996, and soon to be a new father that following November 1996, his death was unexpected and had been such a traumatic experience in my own life, not only because of his death, but the fact that he passed away on my 25th birthday; never thought I'd see a day when I didn't care whether I lived or died. Having felt as if my world had crashed around me. A few months later my son was born, not sure who quoted this profound words of encourage to me, but the most pertinent thing that person said to me was "God gives you what you need not what you want." Profound and true as I had reflected knowing that a life was taken as one was given, and what better name to give my newly born son was the name of the one person in my life that meant the world to me in mine, Marcus Andre Jones was a healthy baby boy. This was when I began writing my thoughts down on paper, as more of a healing for myself, therapy of sorts. Discharged from the military in September 27, 1998 I ended up relocating to Staten Island, NY before coming back home to Ohio in 2000. To date this has continued 17 years later as I am still dealing with the loss of my big brother, but today I live life to the fullest, as life is a gift and should be treated as such. I hope my book takes you on a journey, not only in hearing my pain, but seeing my transformation as the years have past in becoming the man I am today. May our past serves as a part of "who we are" and not "who we are" for life is like a season, as each year passes nothing stays the same as life is reborn. Marcus you will never be forgotten, although your not physically here, you are a constant reminder that will always be a part of who I am. May you continue to come to me in my dreams for that is our meeting place, and eventhough the tears run down my face, I am comforted to know that you haven't fogotten me just the same. May you rest in peace, as we will meet again one day in Heaven.