Lepers of the USA
by Judy Joy Jones
would you sit by me
if I had no home
or have me colonized away
a “leper” of the USA
would you take me
in your arms and weep
if you found
an untouchable like me
murdered on your streets
would you come to the city morgue
to collect my no-name ashes
one of society’s throwaways
“see i have carved you
out of the palm of my hand
you are precious to me”
must have been written
for someone else
not the lower caste like me
tonight if I’m lucky I’ll die
and won’t be a piece
of garbage beneath your feet
that no one wants to see
would you sit by me
if I had no home
or have me colonized away
a “leper” of the USA
untouchable
SERENDIPITY
by Claire J. Baker
To rescue a person
from a slight mishap
and later realize
that person saved
your whole life.
No Street Lights
by George Wynn
think of the rank smell
of alleyways and chilly
side streets without street lights
your brothers and sisters
rest and sleep
they should be walked
not just talked about
to ingest a taste of the hell
Poverty
by Ryan Rosenfeld
Moaning, crying, shouting, begging.
A man with rags;
Children with scratchy, thin, worn-out
blankets, infested with mold and lice.
A baby, with nobody to hold her,
comfort her,
or even feed her.
We can help.
Surely, We Can
by Claire J. Baker
Surely, if sensitive communities
can give out condoms
and sterilized needles
in the tenderloin ghetto,
provide priests, rabbis,
reverends for prisoners
to consult, surely
caring communities can
provide for the destitute
if not food, then water;
if not shelter, then safe areas
in which to sleep
where such a natural need
is not named a crime.
A Walk on the Dizzy Side
by George Wynn
Homelessness has dizzied
the chronic down-and-out
How do you go forward
when everyone is frightened of you
or calls you useless or both?
Trying to make it through
one more day seems
like an endless chore
You walk all day and
you’re so damn sore
and the company you keep has been
battered as much as you or more
If only you had a key
to your own door