Rooftop Reflections Lessons Learned from the Outside Looking In

James Peach McClory is a spoken word artist, a husband, a former youthful offender, an officer in the Bronx and now author of an incredible poetic journey of a soul's highs and lows. Let him take you by the hand as he shows how he navigates life, love, maturity, ethnic identity and cultural awareness while growing up in New York City. It may not always be pretty, but its real and it made him the man that he is today. A true soul searching poetic insight of how one young boy found his voice while trying to grow up and how one officer found order in the midst of chaos. A must read for anyone ever curious about the urban dichotomous conflict , that pits boy against man, good versus evil and the past against the future.

James Peach McClory is a native of Washington Heights, Queens and most recently The Bronx, showing a true mixture of all the different ingredients that can be found in this poet. His cultural makeup from everyday assimilation is a nice balance to his Scottish ethnicity, which attributes to his being playfully called the resident white boy in some poetry venues. As both a former youthful offender and now Bronx family Court Officer for the past 18 years, his style of poetry adds to the ability of seeing not only both sides of the coin, but also speaking from personal experience, and not from the sidelines. For him poetry isn't about fame or prestige, but about spiritual redemption, a medium where he can exorcize the demons of a hard life lived with equal parts compassion, reflection and love. While having only three years of spoken word under his belt, he has performed at such venues as The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Capicu, Babble in the Bronx, El Museo del Barrio, Inspired Word, Bronx Museum, Sneakers & Ale and Latino Cultural Night of Poetry in Flushing Meadow Park. He has worked to give back to the community through both personal activism and poetry workshops in various schools and neighborhoods. He can be reached for bookings and poetry workshops at Jampeach@aol.com. Lastly, he believes that poetry in motion is paying it forward....anything else, is just a verse