The State of the Street by John Grey

 

On the street where you live by Donn Gunn from Flickr

A guy’s slumped in the doorway
of an abandoned five and dime,
fast asleep, under a blanket
of flattened cardboard box.
And two men head for the bar,
stumbling bleary-eyed
like they just got up.
And an old woman fumbles in her purse,
grabs all the change,
counting it twice, three times,
in her hand.
She shakes her head like
it’s not enough.
The sad thing is
it’s almost enough.

 

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John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, California Quarterly and Lost Pilots. Latest books, "Between Two Fires", “Covert” and  “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in the Seventh Quarry, La Presa and Doubly Mad.