it was years ago
but seemed like yesterday
i was homeless
everything in my world turned
upside down
i won’t explain what took me down
i remember walking the streets
looking and thinking
what to do next
i looked tired
a man motioned me into a
hamburger cafe
he said I looked like I lost my last friend
i told him he must be reading my mail
cause i lost both my luck and friends
hamburger and coke were good
I thanked him for caring
and being a friend for the past hour
i never looked in dumpsters before
and discovered some food was cooked
and not sold…..it all tasted good
during the winter
i discovered abandoned houses
doors unlocked for those who
where down on luck
i wrote poetry during the days
where I found warmth in
the local college library
all this poverty because i wanted
to be a poet and make a living
from poetry sales
many months had passed since
anyone purchased a poem for a
magazine or literary journal
so my pocketbook was lean and mean
it was a very cold winder
living here and there in empty houses
eating what I could find
in dumpsters
i survived this period
and perhaps
i am better because of this
when i see the
homeless, I stop to talk. . .
take them to a café for a coke and food
and spend time
i saw a homeless women carrying
a black trash bag with all her belongings
i treated her to a meal at Christmas time
and asked her to tell me about herself
and to tell me how she was doing
she cried nonstop . . .
i’m sorry for crying she says
but no one ever asked me
how I ever felt
and no one before ever bought me a meal
until today