Another Homeless Person Just Died
by Judy Jones
another homeless person just died
another homeless person just died
and not one person cried
not one person cried
cuz it’s just another homeless person
that died
not people like you and me
like you and me
someone’s dying
in the gutter somewhere
with nothing but their souls laid bare
nothing but their souls laid bare
homeless child eating
outta garbage can
and not one person sees
not one person sees
ol’ woman fell on da street
cuz she’d had nothin to eat
nothin to eat
ol’ woman fell on da street
tonight I looked in the mirror
and cried
for I saw my own soul had died
tonight I looked in the mirror
and cried
for my own soul had died
Jesus Is Watching
by Judy Jones
money changers
money lenders
beware
one day Jesus will return
and those who did nothing
to help the dying poor
will try and hide
but their doors will be barred
and all their money burned
in return for their
hearts of stone
that allowed the poorest of the poor
to starve before their eyes
money changers
money lenders
beware
A homeless woman desperately searches for food in a garbage can in this compelling photograph by Dong Lin from his book, “One American Reality.”
Native Son 2012
by George Wynn
Imagine being born
and raised in San Francisco
a nonviolent smart kid
intoxicated by Jean Paul Sartre
drafted into Vietnam
learning to hate and kill
coming home a shadow
of his former self
in and out of work
mostly out
Now at sixty five
limping pushing an
overloaded shopping cart
He says, “I don’t have
time to be pissed
I have to survive.”
How can we expect him
to get his footing
when passers-by and merchants
would prefer he didn’t exist
OF ESCAPE
by Claire J. Baker
The homeless often change
sleeping spots:
from under a bridge
to near RR tracks;
from field-edge, among bushes
to under a landing platform
of a foreclosed factory;
from back of lumber yard
to a lean-to in the woods.
They’ve learned:
wiser to shuffle on, not settle
long enough to mark
a space of one’s own.
Best stay in the uneasy mode
of escape,
sleep with ten eyes open.
