Author Archives: tarringovaughan


tarringovaughan

Tarringo T. Vaughan always believed he had a love affair with literature. One of the first pictures he saw of himself was of him at maybe the age of three or four year’s old sitting with a book in his hand. But for Tarringo, growing up in the depths of the inner city both in Boston, MA and Springfield, MA made him believe that expression through the literary voice was un-cool and unattainable. As a very quiet and shy child he learned it became very valuable in his self expression. Born in 1976, Tarringo was the first child, grandchild and nephew in a family that had grown accustomed to struggle. His mother was a teenager who quickly lost the support of my father who today he knows very little of. These aspects of his life triggered the inspiration of his pen. Later in life his struggle with self confidence and homosexuality catapulted his desire to write. He felt a need to educate and help others in his situation through words. It became Tarringo’s ambition to be somebody and in 1995 he entered his freshmen year at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he was still a very quiet individual and still refused to make a career involving literature. But his English courses continued to intrigue him the most and through those courses he became familiar and connected with African American writers such as James Baldwin and Langston Hughes who taught him that it was cool to be whom he was. James Baldwin was also gay and proudly exhibited his sense of self and Langston Hughes was a genius in poetry whose suave lyrical delivery drew Tarringo into his expression. And as his education furthered he found himself opening up more and taking on the role of a leader socially. Tarringo T. Vaughan graduated in 2000 from the University Of Massachusetts - Amherst with a Bachelors degree in English and Communications as a 2nd major. Tarringo currently works in the healthcare field but is working on his 2nd poetry book for publication titled “A Crack In The Sidewalk” following his first book of poetry titiled "Beyond Rainbows & Yellow Brick Roads" and is the founder of the Flexwriters Creative Network (http://www.flexwriterscreativenetwork.net) which currently features an online magazine, a social site and many literary outlets for poets, writers, publishers and readers. Future plans include a publishing company as well as actual an actual café for writers and spoken word nights. His writing consists of many styles as he does like neglecting rules and going beyond the norm.

She Gave Me Life

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She Gave Me Life (A Mother’s Day Tribute) Her smile shared laughter when pain and poverty challenged her soul.  Her eyes sparkled joy when sadness weakened her courage …but she stayed strong   because through her journey on this earth the gifts she birthed were the reasons she knew she belonged   she was just […]

After the Rain

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Poetry

    6:58 A.M the sky cried   through the misery of darkened skies the rain came down harassing sleepy eyes and solemnly splashing against drowning curbs;   it bullied blind windshields and bloated thirsty fields   it welted drowsy highways and feed angry puddles flooding hurried streets – like a tempered   soul the […]

What Time Left Behind

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Poetry

What Time Left Behind   A Four family house, all white with a trim of red; stain glassed windows and steps of concrete stone. A house no longer a home is now a picture frame where memories still live and now it stands there alone.   The scent of nana’s cooking still lingers/an aroma I […]

Winter’s Song

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  Winter’s Song   The snow fell today, and and silence lifted throughout the streets; no whistling winds or chilling air blowing against the breath of my mind. Just the stillness. This moment.  Here alone making footprints on the dusting over cobbled stone/with poet eyes dreaming the sky.   Walking, through the birth of winter […]

Chasing Dreams

Posted on in Poetry: A Different Kind Of Blues | 0 comments
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There is always hope when the beauty of roses uplift through the cracks of shattered sidewalks where footprints of promise have faded… and there are always fields of inspiration where one finds the golden gleam of sunlight shining down through gray skies of tears.   Standing on those sidewalks and in those fields is a […]

A King Amongst Men

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It does not take a crown, a throne or a bloodline of royalty to become a king; it takes the heart of a man and the sweat of a warrior. A man does not become a man until he unlocks himself from the grasps of fear and rise above the barb wired barricades of challenge. […]

I Write America

Posted on in New Poems, Poetry: A Different Kind Of Blues | 0 comments
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Voices silenced; minds hypnotized, stereotyped by violence – HANDS UP, DON’T SHOOT the injustice of equality no longer paused on mute.   I write America begging you to see, that even as an educated black man the sirens of brutality still scream towards me. At just the young age 12 police targeted my skin not […]

Mama Said There Would Be Days Like These

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  Somethin’  was a knockin’ at the door this morn’ I said somethin’ sad was a knockin’ at the door this morn’ and I didn’t want to get up to see what was a knockin’ at that door because I was feelin’ kinda down you see; yes I was feelin’ down and dreary and I […]

In Summer

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In Summer In summer, the song sings itself. ~William CarlosWilliams I hear the songs again.  Back when my mind was in the body of innocence – before growth when adolescence stood still in time and the playfulness of youth filtered through the poetry of nursery rhymes.  I hear the songs again.  Memories dancing on aged sidewalks […]

Thoughts From A Loft At The End Of June

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I wonder what Langston Hughes would’ve done if there were no words – I wonder how he would’ve taught the world about deferred dreams if there was no way to write the blues.  I wonder what would become of language if the fears of Shakespeare didn’t tell tales in old English rhyme and didn’t retell […]