News Poetry: Homeless at 7th and Santa Fe

1.
Black plastic bag, no tote, no backpack
One pair of shoes, no socks, no laces
Plenty of sunshine today, no raincoat
One glove, one cold, bare hand
Toothache, no aspirin
One quarter and three dimes,
No nickels, no ones, no fives
Cracks in the sidewalk, no looking up
Lest he fall and no one will help him
2.
Another man froze to death overnight
on a sidewalk in Boulder. Science says
a gentle way to die, with his old boots on,
homeless on a hard bed. He’d slept out before
and had reason to hope he might wake up
with the sun. Without a down-filled coat
hope had no feathers.
3.
Suffer the cold to come inside. Christ
and Allah never walked hard sidewalks.
Buddha sat under a tree in kinder weather.
There’s no chapter and verse for the lonely,
the scared, the claustrophobe who hates
walls. But their blood cools and organs fade
into a silent unholy night, no star, no wise men.
Like this story? Steal it! Feel free to republish it in part or in full, just please give credit to The Colorado Independent and add a link to the original.
Got a tip? Story pitch? Send us an e-mail. Follow The Colorado Independent on Twitter.
2 Comments
Leave a Response
EVENTS

4/28 – A Skype Talk with Dr. Daniel Ellsberg
Dr. Daniel Ellsberg is known as the whistleblower who published the Pentagon Papers. While working as a high-level defense analyst at the military think-tank the […]
Read MoreTHE BLOGS

How The Denver Post’s rebellion rippled across America
By now you’ve likely heard about The Denver Post’s multi-page editorial broadside at its hedge-fund owner. This week’s newsletter seeks to explain the local and national repercussions of […]
Read More
These words seem even more poignant with the freezing weather we have been having lately. The author has a way of observing the scene and making us experience the very issue we don’t want to acknowledge. Thank you, Karen, for your words.
No frills, no fluff. Just keen strident observations.
Thank you, Karen.