In Nightly Corners
by Claire J. Baker
I won’t stay long, dear world,
am merely passing through.
In nightly corners where I’m curled
won’t stay long, harsh world:
it rains & streets are pearled,
colors dark though eyes are blue.
Can’t stay here, wild world —
only passing through.
GANDHI’S BONES
by Claire J. Baker
must be glowing
like pearls
under candlelight
The awesome dear idea
of nonviolence
the natural cease & desist
of kindness coming from
every bone in one’s body
an irritation, then
the gorgeous glossing.
Remembering The Holocaust
by Claire J. Baker
Nazi guards engraved
a number on each
Jew’s wrist
like branding hides
of rounded-up cattle.
Then
long crowded boxcars,
little air,
no sanitation —
the numbers
imprisonment, lice, rats,
starvation,
sexual abuse,
inhumane experiments.
Finally
gas steamed from
showerheads —
bodies incinerated
in round-the-clock ovens
or naked bodies shoveled
into mass graves —
horrors photographed
into eternal infamy
while the “outside” world
mostly wore a mask!
In Jonathan Burstein’s painting, “Church,” a homeless man seeks a safe haven in the sanctuary of a church.
Haven
by Delaine Jones
I found a haven
where I can rest
I found a haven —
when in it,
I feel blest
It’s in a strange place though,
surrounded by sounds
of violence, sirens,
people who are in need
of a human touch
of kindness
Yes on this journey
of homelessness
I’ve found
a place of Rest.
Homeless
by Delaine Jones
Oh how I wish I had a home,
a place where I belong
where in it
all things I own
O how I wish I had a home,
where I would feel safe,
free to let me be me,
a place to invite
my family, my friends
a place to protect me
from the wind.
Oh how I wish I had a home
Home is where the heart is
they say,
and you wonder why
sometimes I’m happy,
sometimes I’m sad,
sometimes even mad.
Well it is because
my heart does not have a home
