Hi there, I am Mahlon Gumbs

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Who am I?

They call me brother to the night; and right now I'm the blues in your left thigh, trying to become the funk in your right". — Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)

Okay, not really, but I've always wanted to borrow that line. ☺ I'm really just a simple soul. I've experienced quite a bit in my life and am always looking forward to the next adventure. Sometimes, I get a chance to record those experiences on paper. You'll find some of those here.

As far as the bio points go, I

  • am a bilingual husband, father, son, brother, pilot and software engineer.
  • am very spontaneous, absolutely love to travel and always searching for the next experience.

What is Sand Petals?

In short, it is just a space I've created in order to share some of the poems and thoughts I've had over the years. I chose the name because...well...who doesn't love sandy beaches and flower petals?

Why did I create this site?

True story. I used to have a poetry-focused website back almost 20 years ago. I didn't stick with it for very long because life started happening fast. The other day, someone contacted me on Facebook and asked if I used to write poetry. As it turns out, she read one of my poems all those years ago and remembered me from the by line. That moved me to create a place to share more. If she remembered that poem from so long ago, perhaps I can reach others as well. Thus, Sand Petals was born.

What should you expect to find here?

The unexpected or just what you are looking for or nothing that you particularly like. Maybe all of the above. It all depends on what you read and when you read it.

I write what I see or imagine. Some of what you find here may go against everything you believe in. That's fine. All I ask is that you remember two things.

  1. Agreement is optional but respect should never be.
  2. No one can be summed up by a single word, paragraph or poetic verse.

So have a look around, visit often and let me know what you think (good or bad).