Homeless
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she said
I Love You
as i emptied my walleti had never told a stranger
I Love You
but in that momenti felt what Love wasi felt what Love is
You can hear them in the nurseries addicted before they breathe.
You can rock them, gently rock them, but still the babies grieve.
You can watch them on a playground fighting foes that don’t exist,
Homeless
The heat of this gray summer day sends beads of sweat dripping.
Into my baggy ill-fitting shorts.
Birds have nest, lions have dens; i had no where to rest on.
One day i will tell the story.
Around the rounded table, i will tell the story of how i overcome.
We are the watchmen of street
We are the unpopular populace
We are like a popular song
that never graces the ear;
a corpse flower to you
While you have a sound sleep
Mush-Chavvie
We Gypsies forged the nails of the cross
We roam to shake the guilt
Wandering fruitlessly searching for lands that we lost
Afore mother Mary cursed what we Pikeys rebuilt
On the streets is where I lie,
Obscured from the peasants,
Merrily sauntering by,
Maybe, an opaque veil besets me,
From the niggardly world,
My infinite prayers never seem to be heard.
I have a dream
To help those in need.
To help set them free from their past sufferings.
To help them keep hope when they're without a home.
I'll provide a place where they're finally thrown a bone.
Money is given not earned,
Dumpsters serve as restaurants,
Fountains as bathtubs,
Shoes are their tires,
Makeshift shelters as home,
No family but fellow brethren,
And no dept because most already paid.
You were the one who held my hand,
You scooped me up and protected me.
On nights that I could no longer stand,
You would hold me until my crying stopped.
my guts are knotted uptwisted
i've been overthinking
my old nature of sin seeking
left my heart unwhole
and leaky
nerves got the best of me
anxiety
keeps my chest sinking
I had a messy complicated life
Some would say it's like a blizzard everyday
But yet still …..
I love seeing smiles on the faces of others
It makes me special
Take 1
Fighting, flying, fun, and frightening
Home was rough, and school was nothing.
Together as four was better than one.
To grow up with siblings means that I've won.
First Rugged Rubber Rake
Then Rugged Rubber rap
In lumpy mucky rain
Through golden gleaming sap
Worn through a hanging sole
Fat legs search for a cap
LEFT ON THE STREET
ALL ALONE
SO LONELY IN THE COLD AND DARK PLACE
WHERE THEY AREN'T ENOUGH SPACE
SO MUCH PAINFUL EMOTIONS CLOUDED ON THEIR FACES
IT BECAME A BURDEN THEY COULDN'T EXPRESSED IN WORDS
It has been said that a penny found heads up on the ground is a fortune of good luck.
The rain pours while the thoughts in their heads carves out of the pavements.
I saw this man alone in the brisk cold;
He wore an eskimo hat to keep warm.
A passing girl praised the hat, and behold-
The man offered it to her, against norm.
It's a sad day
on Lancaster
Get fifty a day
Living this way
Makes for a sad day
Tip toe around
Left out on the ground
No one else but yourself around
Laughter is all I hear.
I hear the cruel whispers as I walk down the hall.
I can hear you.
I can hear their silent voices, smirking at the girl who walks -
Twenty one point three.
Twenty one point three million.
Twenty one point three million refugees
Half of which aren’t even eighteen,
Forced from home simply because,
I was born from drug addicted parents, but no one saw me.
I father killed himself when I was at the age of two, but no one saw me.
My mother was mentally ill and abusive, but no one saw me.
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault that you could not make something of yourself, in a land that gives
Everything...
Not my fault...not my problem...
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault,
They say
Not my fault that you could not make something of yourself, in a land that gives
Everything...
Not my fault...not my problem...
Not my fault,
They say
I come from the city that never sleeps,
NYC,
city where gentrification stimulates broken dreams,
but evidently it's not as awful as it seems,
America the Great, or so she used to be...
We the people traded in our life and liberty.
We're slaves to media now
surrounded by what other people think,
struggling for independence like a spider in a sink.
We go about day to day seeking...
Shelter,
Food,
Safety.
We go about night to night hoping.
I open my eyes and hear the streets of New York City
I look up to see only bystanders filled with pity
My daughter, she wakes up from her cardboard bed
She asks me when she'll be fed
"Soon baby" I said
We raise the best soldiers
And make the biggest bombs
We carry their caskets on our shoulders
While we continue the war on Islam
But it provides income for stockholders
So the Government tells us to stay calm
How can we say
we live in the land of the free
while the homes of the brave
are being taken away
How can we ignore
the illness and poverty
suffered so immensely
The city roads are full of potholes.
The railroads creek and squeak with the passing of heavy machinery.
I sit in the garage at my borther's home.
I am a homeless college graduate--in debt.
My life has been hard, this year was no different.
Half way through I realized I'd missed it.
From being comfortable and never alone,
We were left without a home.
In our car is where we stay
I sit in my house with warm clothes and a bed to sleep on,
yet I complain to my mother that our wifi isn't working.
"My room is too small and I hate this neighborhood",
Christmas time brings upon cheer
But this is the time Sham went to jail
Sham as in mom
The first woman my Gay ass ever loved
Caretaker
The woman who
Birthed me out her canal
A'int rattling no coins,
I'm workin', I'm on my way.
Not on display like some toddler,
Gon' make someone proud today.
Dancin' in the fire like a greedy moth,
I'll take the heat, I'll eat the flame,
You sleep in a bedI sleep in the streetsI'm your shadow You eat at restaurants I eat from garbage cansI'm your shadow You're treated with respect and careI'm left in the streets, helpless for others to stareI'm your shadow I'm human just like you,
In the biting cold I walk,
Barefoot and in tattered attire,
My dirty pants, ripped at the knees,
Folded at the waist and tied to my body
By an old and dirty rope coming apart,
This is me, this is morning,
Your Cathedral Sized Heart
By PUNCH May 2014
PERHAPS A thought
of never seeing you again
found me reaching for this pen
You look at him, he's all alone
Still no one looks at him
He's crippled and worn,
Tall, filthy and thin.
Accompanied by no one
Except for his shadow
He lives on the streets of New York
Being young and homeless having possesion
But dont own shit the folks that put
you out on the streets hide behind a good class
I can see thru a good glass what lies behind and beneth the classification of help is help
Shadows,
Acrosss the field,
Across the meadow,
Across the lawn and across the room,
As the adults yawn and the children snore.
Lollipops, gumdrops,
Nightmares and blessed dreams,
Swirls of red angrily coated the walls.
Nightmares whispered in the wind.
She saw him in the flashes of lightening.
We sat together in a bus-stop.
Alone, just her and I.
She was tall and thin,
old and grey.
When I looked at her my blood ran cold.
She had been kicked & beaten,
battered and bruised.
Her name was midnight,
I am not afraid of dying,
but instead of living without love.
I am not afraid of falling,
but instead of watching from above.
I am not afraid of crying,
but instead of laughing on my own.
She clutched the broken objects,
Held them to her chest.
They constantly mocked her life,
Called it a mess.
But they couldn’t see the tears,
I am screaming from the subways. Will anyone here me? Will I ever see better days? I am hungry and my stomach pains are showing no signs of ceasing.
I knew her one time, met her on the street outside our library
Her black braids entangled, an greying
Her scent of peppermint and wood reeked loudly
Her voice even stronger against the strong bearded wind.
Yesterday on the subway
We sat
Discussing politics or gossip
When a blind beggar spoke.
Stabbed in the eye and homeless
He blessed the crowd for their generosity
Which had yet to be proven
"Can I have the-"
"The 5 dollar footlong? Yes, you may sir!"
He chuckles softly every time I finish his order for him
His name is Lorenzo and he lives down the street in his 'man cave' as he likes to call it
He walks at home
in the streets alone
a lone light Glimmers
as his day starts to fade
a satchel for his car
and a lighter for his fuel
he drifts off into another star evening
I hang around In this room I pretend that I own,
I feel so ungreatfull for the life I've been thrown,
and the friends I have grown,
In a house full of homies and I still can't help feeling alone,
We are migratory kids,
From our own native home,
End up in cities looking for life,
Strive here and there for life and food,
Sleep and live under bridge and streets,
i had a chance
to share the joy
that i had always known
and so i stood
and raised them up
and brought forth tears from stone
it's such a shame
that they were shocked
She completely tore him apart.Molecule by molecule he started to evaporate,only there was no cycle of reincarnation this time.
Superheroes are not those in capes
They are the ones in drapes
Covered in rags
They suffer and have to go day to day
Not knowing if they will live or die
Whether they will eat, drink
The rain pours outide
This library echos with the raindrops.
Singing a stormy song.
Outside,
It is a different song to sing.
Animals,
Former pets,
Try to dodge the raindrops
With no prevail.
This poem is directed towards my eldest brother... who has been on a heavy drug addiction for the past year. He has a 5 year old son who he barely sees and has got himself in a lot of trouble with the law.
Hour Glass of Tracks
The city is painted with the half lifeless bodies of what we once were
wasted in every sense of the word
See the people in the streets, barely any clothes on their backs and no shoes on their feet.
They have nothing but empty bottle packs
I hear the music
No one else hears
And I wander through the streets.
I sing along but
They can't see me.
What I have is such a treat!
I'm the invisible man.
Super Special.
A few streets down
away from this perfected outer shell of blissful indulgence that we have created
lies
a city of
distorted faces,
starvation,
violence.
I'm the man in the sky
I watch you with my hazy eyes
Take my hand I'll set you free
Step into my reality
Here there ain't a ceilin' with walls
Passer by
Stops to view a cloudy sky.
My eyes, keen to believe with a spirit to survive.
Third eye is clouded with the fog, from the sadness I feel
when I see a man without a home struggling.
The way they live, eat, and dress
It's sad to look, for you do not care
I like to look because I truly care
Do you ever think of those people? I do.
Watching them steal or beg for a dollar or two.
Don’t pass by that guy on the street
He has a name you see
He may not be your typical friend
But speak to him you just might see
He is the one who has been forgotten
He just lost his job last week
Like a puppet with ripped strings I hang limp from a tree that is rooted in bad seeds. I have no direction and no recollection of anything but the present. Everything else is blocked out and I always want to shout.
We walk past, ignore, and don't even aknowlege the people on Earth viewed as peasent to most
the look of fear in their eyes and destruction on their souls as they walk down the road
they happen to call it home
Only in a house filled with people may i feel homeless,i have no say, no way to get out but stay in..
We don't know what he went through
We don't know why he ended up where he is
All we know is what we see
We see the a guy that has no where to stay
Concrete Jungle
City terrain converges with the murky sky above in the dusty shade they share.
A symphony of sound permeates the humid air as machines and people hum through their daily cycles;
Is it because me and my gurl dropped out
Our sophmore year of high school, for
becoming 16 yr. parents?
Was it us taking that risk?
Or was it life we decided to miss?
My images were distorted,
a played out fiction book of torn pages and darken memories.
A scripture that I will never forget,
Look at that cold damp bench
guess what ? that’s my home
A dagger to my heart
that led me to this
I saw that man on the side of the streetBegging for money for food to eatCause his last meal was two days agoAnd he's dying of starvation but you just say "So?"Desensitized to the pain of these people
they come in all forms
tall
short
old
young
they come in all sizes
petite
large
small
skiiny
fat
they come in all colors
light
dark
Seldom do I think your not powerfulA servant of JoyA peace initiation for the Indians of SenecaA LoveA FireA beautiful path in the light of foreverA reminder of effortless serenityPush me down
America's highways are all Route 66 America's highways are all Route 666
Why'd the hobo cross the road--to get the other side
Dotted yellow line a new kind of divide
Thumb out, took his last free ride
My dream job is not too popular, but one that completes me.
To feed the poor, clothe the naked, share some water if need be.
It calls me when I see the homeless.
It calls me when I feel hungry.
I hit you,
You hit me harder.
Down in the gutter,
No room to barter.
A pack of smokes,
That's fifteen years,
Fifteen years less
That I don't have to
See your face or
The cold woman caught my eye
It is strange though
I never once saw her cry
Or even heard her bellow
The words to a tune of a lost soul
The homeless woman stole my attention
How could she live
Siblings of the Street, I'm sorry
you have been
forgotten.
No family left, the only mother you have
if one of Earth.
Her hugs are cold, and her skin rough
unlike the hand we should have given you.
Homeless
People on every corner
Begging for spare change
Giving up their pride
In hope for a life’s exchange
Boston is such a beautiful city,
Especially in the winter.
Don't you love the lights that shine
On the trees near Quincy Market
And the laughter you hear
From the people all around you?
I got ideas on my mind,
but not a single dime
to stop this.
Everyday that I see
oh man, suddenly
i feel compelled to give.
They walk the streets.
No baths or money to eat.
What do I do?
What is a man to do
Left alone cold, with the flu
He lives in heat but shivers at night
Alone afraid without he cascades into light
He sees the sun and feels only colder
An outcast laying low, hiding in the shadows of the Earth’s chattering inhabitan
The weary hobo grins at the past
Although it wilted much too fast
His lips upturned he embraces the curve
Of life and the universe
Somehow he owns nothing but luck
How I envy you, wanderer, how I envy your every move, your every emotion, your every thought.
How I envy your paradise to have the stars themselves cover you as you wander eternally.
Walking down the sidewalk and all I can see
Is the sad old man looking at me.
He begs and pleads
Sitting on his knees.
My heart breaks
My whole body starts to ache.
This man lives in the street,
Having the power to make the weak stronger
Noone deserves to be made little
I would tell the homeless to seak a job
And they would find one
I would lend them a hand to help them
Off the ground
They told me to marry rich,to marry "up."But we could make plans to live in cardboard boxes on city streets lined with blankets and flowers.
As I walk through these concrete New York streets I see pain staken faces begging for a bite to eat. Curled up, freezing cold, lonely and lost, no home, no car.
Those donation boxes
for the local animal shelter,
school supplies,
coats for the winter,
clothes for the homeless,
would be filled to the brim.
Overflowing with fabric, food, pencils, cans,
Lines of bodies piled one behind another,
Sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers,
Looking for a few walls to cover their heads,
Hoping a few mouths could be fed.
But there was no room in the inn, said Jim.
On the streets is where they stay.
The survival of the fittest was underway.
The kids walked to school every day. They passed by nice houses on their way.
The grown-ups all took the bus. Getting fare was all the fuss.
The little man with the tangled beard
sits
huddled
in an olive green jacket
dust and snow caught in the wrinkles
A stained sheet draped around cold shoulders
edges
shredded to
Half-mad with cold and hungerthe rattling of his cup a gunshot in her ears.She averts her eyes,unable to stare.
shreds of winter hair shroud stippled skin,weathered by one, two, many weekscrouched and soliciting in the steady glowof our capital’s sun. Once full lips shrivel,struggle to form the one simple word
A gnarled hand grabs my sleeve.
Lightly, hesitantly, but desperately.
I'm pulled to look;
Forced to see what I've been avoiding.
A woman looks up at me,
With ribs showing through the worn clothes
I used to look down a lot
My head full of melancholic thoughts
And myself so weighed down
I could not stand up.
In fact I was falling,
deeper and deeper into a depression
Trying to refine me and define me,
But you don't want to test me.
I may be as sweet as a rose,
But I'm pretty tough on my toes.
I know I'm not perfect,
But in the end it will be worth it.
I am the one who fought for you
Because it’s what you asked.
I am the one who would have died for you
If to me that is what you tasked.
Sitting on an invisible desert
Screaming for Help
No one hears you
Your voice is plastered on a piece of cardboard
No yellow brick road for you
You see a homeless man
Standing on the corner of the road.
You see vehicles
Passing by him.
You see women and children
Scurrying to the opposite side of him.
You see the world
Theres no rhyme or reason just changing seasons pondering, thinking without a doubt why am I so fearful without a route no where to go, no where to hide time is running out, I don't like this ride I wonder what if what if I could leave to leave th
Childish Innocence ripped away,
it’s now dark outside, yet it is day.
“How can they smile, laugh, and play?”,
when my childish innocence was just ripped away.
Accidently created, always viewed with disgust,
I had spent days, what had seemed to be months clenching to the piece of life I had. I was lost, in a chaotic silence, hoping and praying for redemption, for savior.
Here and there, the unheard resides
A face so unsual
A face no one can describe
A face, ignored
Abandoned in the cold forest alone
A thunder stops by and turns to the other side
Peeved delivery truck drivers
Honk and beep at each other
Grumbling
About the nightmares of rush hour
Over the harsh babble of cars
Empty beer bottles crack
Ever wonder why everybody cannot be as fortunate?
Burns a whole through my brain, its scorching its
Stories behind faces that can be torturous.
Think they're just asking for money? No, there's more to this.
The shit I wish I could tell my teacher would probably get me supended. But once the shit I wish I could have said probably would have saved my arm. Bullying was killing me inside. Going through all differnt changes with my body and feelings.
The ball bounces against the crack of the drive
Two little girls laugh as they miss the backward shot.
Dusk disappears like their childhood
Those eyes blazed
Jaws wide with rage
Looming so large above me
All I wanted was to play
Teeth through flesh
Warm red water covers me
All is fear
All I wanted was to play
Why doesn't anybody care,
as they pass him in the street
with his empty, hollow stare?
A shell of a man,
nothing left inside,
I wonder if a light once burned,
behind those vacant eyes,
This is for the man on the corner of First and Dunn
with a sign that breaks hearts and makes everybody run
home to their heaters and high-tech computers
I have no room to judge
Living on the street, they never seem to budge
Living off a dollar or a penny
Everyone's afraid to give
Thinking that people gone spend it on henny
But that's how they learned to live
Not once in my life have I heard someone say
“Could you spare some change?”; no, they expect we will pay.
They sit with their signs, black words in black scrawl,
and hope as we each walk on by, one and all.
Painted Smiles
August 12, 2013
“Would You like more tea?”
Knowing and seeing that I had enough,
She smiles showing more Teeth
Whiter than most.
With her Painted Smile
Harsh and cold
Is the shattered concrete
Click clicking beneath the feet
Of jostled ignorance
Heavily breathing
Pant panting anxiety
Beneath these metal ghosts
As I walk down the street I see all the faces;
The happy, the sad, the downright mad;
Some might believe they are always this way;
Soon you'll know that's just not true;
The mad man at the bus stop,
Growing up isn't easyThe struggles are endless.
No one can mentally prepare you for what lies ahead,in 7th grade an enlish teacher showed me how to cope with the madness.
Appearance, they couldn't do much.
Battered clothes hang off the shoulders of them.
Conquering the battles of the homeless people was my mission.
Dead people walking is what they seem to be.
I woke up one morning to a very dark day
I couldn't go home my parents they went away
the streets aren't so friendly
theres terror in my eyes
No place to call home
I'm all alone in the night
My home Is a dumpster and I lie by my bat. Afraid to move and disturb the rats. I walk with a shopping cart to transport my goods. I walk through alleys and hoods.I had a bike I stole from a yard. Now mine is stolen and walks are far.
Everyday I wake
Early in the morning
The sun is at the Sea line
And I know its the perfect time
I Walk through the house
And to my masters room
I lick her ear
And she awakens too
I've been sitting on this concrete for as long as I remember,
Regret has left my soul years ago.
I just try to admire what I have now.
As I ask the people of my free country for the giving,
There is no greater felon, than that of the innocent bystander:
He who sees...
Does no wrong.
Does no good.
The person who witnesses pain and suffering and,
I've never had an owner Yelped, whined..those didn't work
And you've never had a pet I waited for you to sleep.Then ran away;
Behind a metal door,
My heart begins to feel sore.
It’s been beating painfully for days,
I’m hoping, just pleading it’s a daze.
Pairs of eyes dart from me to a friend.
Will they come by again,Those humans with the brand new leash?I’ve been in this shelter for a while now,I wonder if I’ll ever leave…
You're so sad, your tears illuminate a dreariness that words can't describe,
you're so angry, the wrath of your fury is something you can't hide.
I walk past wonderful, wounded people,
with nothing of worth but the words of my mouth.
Isn't there more than empty words?
Isn't there more to life than this?
I used to meet you in the park.
You had pride- you said.
"This is only temporary.
I'm looking for a job,
Not living on welfare."
Here I stand with a poster board in hand.
I look at you as you try to avoid me.
In your A/C, as you turn the radio up.
I'm struggling.
I am dying on my knees, when I want to stand on my feet.
That one feast during that one time of the year
That one moment when calories don't matter, we have no fear
Across that one big table we can barely see
Through that one turkey big enough for the entire family
Home is the place where we belong
It is the love in the paneling- it builds us up, makes us strong;
to believe in who we are,
to know that there is place for going back when we've gone too far.
You’re at a red light and a homeless man approaches you
And you act like you have nothing when you’re sitting in your BMW
Life—stops in a moment
Bang, cut, gone.
Safety—is an illusion
Zip, clip, done.
Survival—the one goal
Teen, street, alone.
How—did I end up this way?
Hit, Fist, door.
So—here I’ll stay
And such was the day,
that America died,
when those who had served, fell, and protected
were shunned by those who they had defended..
The homeless starve on the streets,
And the people never stopping, never sharing a glance, never sharing a thought.
His queen size bed is the hard concrete we walk on
His 100 percent cotton pillow is his right arm that he lays on
His 1500 egyptian thread count sheets is the same clothes he had on for the past 3 weeks.
At the corner it stands.
Resolute.
An unmoving, unfailing symbol of strength.
It's seen much.
It has seen a lost child wandering,
the shadows of dangerous men,
the rush of runaway lovers.
The way he stands makes him look fragile,
But I bet, back in the day he was agile.
His back curves into a dramatic arch,
His steps, so loud, it’s like a march.
You smell so good when you walk by me.
You ignore me and keep walking as you always do.
Your beautifully pressed white coat and shinning shoes
Walk past me kicking some snow in my face.
the scars on my back show the long nights i had to work.
the scars on my back show the srtuggles i been through
the scars on my back show the pain i indoored when i lost my grandmother
My snakeskin eyes are full of haze
The dams that held strong, the tears give way
My heart is heavy, but with nothing inside
Kneeling down in the ashes, I cried
The malicious wrath blazed through my house
Children,
Quiet nights, chubby toes, imaginary friends in class.
Water balloons, ice cream trucks, green blades of grass.
Children,
Mistakes made, processing death, moving away with dad.
His blue eyes looked into hers
"If you could have one thing in your life what would it be?"
a simple question yet he didnt expect the answer that came from her mouth
as her eyes welled up with tears she told him
Carbord, sharpie marker,
to me is making a way
asking for help
asking to be loved
nothing wrong with that
coping with it stress
trying to make it better
What's the problem?
They are just like us,
From characteristics,
To emotions.
They lift our spirits,
On our darkest days.
They always want to
Be with us
Even if we ignore them.
They complete
Our life.
Thought to be a normal plain Jane day
Cali, Columbia in beginning of May,
uprooted and thrown like a weed in the garden.
Squealing sounds derived from son’s mouths,
waiting to be told we’re moving out.
I want you more and more with every breath
I don’t even know you, but I love you
I know loving you will be so easy
Come to me, oh child of the green.
You're ways are cruel and mean.
And I, the beast, am calling you home.
To the depths of darkness unseen.
Day after day I look through these bars and wonder why I'm here.
You left me.
Strangers look at me like I've done something wrong.
Why won't you come back?
Wasn't I good enough?
Did I do something bad?
One day I was homeless...
I was a stranger, someone showed me kindness, love and hope. Someone believed in me and was compassionate. A social worker at the shelter, that I will never forget, who was also an immigrant.
