The Poetry Marathon

I walk the streets day and night

Looking for a place

Searching for a job

Begging for some food

Only I find

Close doors

No opportunities

A hard piece of bread

Where is compassion?

Where is love?

Where is a place?

To sleep tonight!

(Free style, Hour 11 @Mejia 7:20 p.m.)

Ain’t no love out here…
Lots of fear.
I ain’t scared no more;
I’m only a whore.
Ain’t got no house…
Have a pimp, he’s a louse!
Ain’t no perks…
Just johns and jerks.
And all of ’em are shit;
Ain’t worth their wives spit.
But, she don’t know…
He also does blow.
Ain’t no place to rest…
That’s only for the best.
The high class whores…
It’s the same score!
They are just like me…
Just they got a higher fee.
Maybe it’s cause they’re young…
Ain’t got no blues to be sung.
I know there’s no place…
No matter my religion or race.
Homeless just means you’re dirt…
Cause no man gives you his shirt.
And if he do…
He is homeless, too.
The mothers and kids…
Who live here, on the skids;
Even if she does right…
Is ignored, out of sight.
They think we are all sluts…
No if, and or butt’s!
What if they asked us…
Gave us fare for a bus?
A few are just teens,
For them, it’s just means.
Why is it wrong to be here?
In the way, and people fear.
And even if we cry…
On whom can we rely?
Government is overrun…
Or under the gun.
The people don’t see…
At least, not me.
I am the homeless git;
Who never did fit.
My babies are all dead;
I couldn’t keep ’em fed.
Ain’t no love in the streets;
Just us, the homeless, the freaks.

City Muse #4:  Madison

Frannie Z

1. Rocky’s

The produce arrived late.

It had to go on the salad bar.

I pushed it through the grinder

at breakfinger speed.

It nipped one joint.

The manager fainted at the blood.

2. The Coop

My cohabitant shocked me

out of bed

on a cold winter morning

so he could march me

through the woods,

Marine style,

to yell at me

for being too sad

much of the time.

3. Off but not off work

The phone company

reprimanded us

for talking about clients

in our spare time,

on the bus.

4. A Very Un-nice Man

He pushed in a card.

Fake valentine.

I was supposed to read it

when I handed in phone

responses.

I looked at it, looked at him,

tore it up.

Naughty, naughty.

5. The Wind

-25. Wind chill -60.

Colder off the lakes.

6. In Spite of Everything

Still in my heart.

the last silent seconds

of dawn – 5:57 actually _

and I have only moments

in which to memorize your face

the shape of you

the line of your arm that becomes

a border against mine,

to watch you sleep,

the rise and fall of your chest

there is not enough time

to dance in the reflection

Scuttlebutt: orig: a cask or butt with an opening for a dipper. 1. nautical – a drinking fountain on shipboard  2. colloq. – rumor or gossip, such as might be passed at the water fountain or “scuttlebutt”

Do folk even gather around a water fountain any more?

Seems we are all busy with our filtered,

flavored, measured, vitamins added, self-cooling, straw attached jugs

to bother with a public fountain.

I have discovered though,

as I age (not as gracefully as some might hope)

and work with a decidedly younger group of co-workers that:

“scuttlebutt” definition #2 has reached an art-form in:

drama, drama, drama.

I could never have imagined how willingly folk

would be

to expose themselves

so openly on public forums.

Discretion and common sense no longer watchwords,

and more’s the sorrow…

’cause if you put it out there, someone, is going to find it…

My Soul came

Made life worth living

My Soul came

Made the world a beautiful place to be in

My Soul came

Made the moon and stars shines more brilliantly

My Soul came

Made songs most meaningful and heartwarming

My Soul came, simply.

And, life was not the same

The world is just as empty as the seashells in the shore

Cloudy skies, bereft of moonbeams

Wailing tunes, unchartered beats

Heaviness and unexplained weariness.

My Soul materialized?

My Soul materialized!!!

My Soul did, didn’t He?

My Soul did,

For a while, for the longest while

My Soul did for two 3-minute songs and 2 unsung favorites

My Soul just did,

And that’s just it,

But My Soul did come

…and stayed…into My Heart.

I knew of a girl who kept moving once every two years,

Somehow she reminded me of him.

They are about the same,

they kept no close friends at the beginning.

Its as if, they intend to disappear at any moment.

As if I was bewitched by past memories,  I confronted her.

“Get a friend!”

in this garden,
where earth resonant
deep.
child within me
able to greet
each moment
as it is ,
as they arise.

Not carrying the
burden of
past, no
worries
of furure.

Just emjoying
the glory of
present moment
which is happening
at the moment.

and than the
barrier between
self and reality
crumbles
and only a
deep resonance
remains.

The road is long

the road is wide,

Never helps here

any guide.

You have to take a horse

to ride,

And find a place for you

to hide.

Hide from them and hide

from us

If you don’t have a horse

just take the bus.