<p><strong>Past Present and Future<br />
Luis Valdes<br />
</strong></p>
<p>As I reflect on my past life,<br />
I deflect what represents negative thoughts during my present.<br />
Prepared to embrace my future,<br />
These time lines represent different shades of me…<br />
Who I was, who I became as well as the obstacles that I conquer.</p>
<p>I look behind at my past life&#8230;demons and ghouls inside of my soul<br />
… while I see it through other people.<br />
Walking along with my present, I learn from that past&#8230;<br />
Inner peace&#8230; bless my soul, while I conquer my present!<br />
New challenges, new situations, the world is becoming my teacher;<br />
I learn from all what life has to offer.</p>
<p>I become the half glass of water&#8230;pure thoughts speaking of my visions.<br />
Half empty the world is always my teacher.<br />
When I look up to the sky heavens,<br />
I see myself transforming into who I am destined to be.<br />
In my rearview I see my future clearest through the windiest storm.<br />
I can’t ever fail&#8230;only rise, succeed.<br />
Indeed, life does not grant you favors.</p>
<p>Life lessons are priceless.<br />
The wisdom that we gain is timeless.<br />
Our only failure is when we finish the walk from the same road we started on.<br />
My future gains knowledge and wisdom from my past and present.<br />
My present learns from my past, my present is walking to my future.</p>
<p><strong>Past, Present and Future</strong><br />
<strong>Luis Valdes 9-4-14</strong></p>
<hr />
<p>Artist Bio:</p>
<p>Luis Valdes believes that he was born with a purpose, that purpose being a light out of the dark tunnel that many people cannot find their own way out of. At 26 years old, he has overcome a lifetime’s worth of obstacles. Currently he host a creative writing workshop and works with drug addicts and convicts to express themselves in the arts of storytelling and performing spoken word.</p>
<p>He was born in Harlem, New York . His mother was originally from the Dominican Republic. He was the fourth of her five children. She was murdered at the age of 33 by her boyfriend and it was Luis and his older brother who found her in the back of her car. His father was an illegal immigrant who came to this country after being released from prison in Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980. He worked in New Jersey as a welder, but later became a wealthy drug dealer in New York City. By the time Luis was 17, his father, who he considered very wise and his best friend, died of Lung Cancer. Luis says that his father was his first teacher who taught him many life lessons. Still, Luis managed to graduate from High School and begin college while working and taking care of himself.</p>
<p>However, an injury to his feet that resulted from jumping out of a three story window while being chased by police when he was 15, finally slowed him down to the point where he couldn’t work and it was more and more difficult to walk. He was introduced to a Priest who helped him get the surgery that he desperately needed and gave him a place to live and thus get his life back on track.</p>
<p>Today, Luis is enrolled as a full-time student at Suffolk County Community College majoring in General Studies with an emphasis in Political Science. He works full-time for Independent Support Service as a Direct Care Support Staff assisting adults with Autism. He was recently given a handsome raise as a result of his performance as a top staff member.</p>
<p>His passion is poetry and he says that he expresses himself by performing spoken words at Open Mics and poetry readings. He has also performed and competed at Madison Square Garden and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. This is especially significant because Luis is a stutterer, another of the obstacles which he has not allowed to hold him back.</p>
<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4514" src="https://rockthepigeon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/img_20180508_112913_026.jpg" alt="img_20180508_112913_026.jpg" width="479" height="479" /></p>