Anthony Liccione (b. October 9, 1968) emerged from hardship, raised in a broken family, moving among homes and even living in his car during his teenage years, yet found solace in writing. His journey as poet and author reflects that struggle: his journals grew into published volumes such as Back Words and Forward, Please Pass Me the Blood & Butter, Wolf Down, and Symmetry. His poems appear in many literary journals. He now balances life in Texas, service in the Army National Guard, and raising two children. His work inspires through unflinching honesty, about loss, suffering, resilience and shows how art can give voice to shadows and turn survival into strength.
"God always knows our conscious, if it's bad He will stricken it, if it's good He will keep it clear, if you have no conscious then you're dead to God."
"At the edge you will always remember me, at the edge you will last be remembered, where sanity and insanity come together, for the time, then separates. Like leaves on October trees, that color the world, but for a moment, then leave. At the edge, where life losses its edginess, and thoughts we will become one, someday. At the edge the sun drops, the ring falls, and senses of raindrops climb upwards to the gray sky."
"One can talk good and shower down roses, but it's the receiver that has to walk through the thorns, and all its false expectations."
"Rather than you smoking a cigarette, the cigarette is really smoking you."
"She knows her timing, always knows. The time to strike or the time to starve. Her eyes as a clock, she watches she waits she learns, and in the second she blinks, she changes her mind just like that."
"Some people are severely lonely, all they can do is accept the single life as an example of being free and happy."
"Rather blessings, after counting my misfortunes, I realized how the more blessed I am."
"We all have our own road to walk. Whether rocky, curving, straight or smooth, what good is a lonely road? It's when we run and intersect with other roads that defines our road. When road meets road do we get direction, and choices to cross into another life."
"Money makes a monster of a man, that makes money his master."
"They say, timing is everything. But then they say, there is never a perfect time for anything."
"The papers say we're married, but it's the heart that writes the love story."
"A dream is just as good, and will go as far as an action."
"Her complexity is a glorious fire that consumes, while her simplicity goes unapproachable. But if one takes time to understand her, there is something beautiful to find, something simple to be loved. But she goes unloved, for being misunderstood."
"There are some people that should stay quiet, because they understand. As there are those that should stay quiet, because they don't understand. Some things are better left unsaid or voiced."
"Hit the bottom and get back up, or hit the bottle and stay down."
"Everyone has their own boat, it's a matter of pulling it out of the sand, and putting it in the water. But further, you can anchor the boat in fear when the storms rage, and go nowhere, let it drift aimlessly on its own or you can let God be the navigator and guide you on a journey in a way that is right for you."
"We watch the sky, we watch it alive and we watch it die, looking for signs. We live like wind, with hope in wings that we will get there, never sooner or never later, but at a right time."
"Therapy to life: Eat with the wise, and drink with the fools!"
"The Sun can be your greatest gloom, or your greatest comforter, depending on how you view its shine."
"Everything begins with failing. If you stop to fail, then your failing to stop, to try and try again, and bring success."
"Zero is the number people often feel, more so than one."