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Poverty
Sunbeams
February 2018We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however gained.
Let America Be America Again
Let America be America again. / Let it be the dream it used to be. / Let it be the pioneer on the plain / Seeking a home where he himself is free.
February 2017No Talking To Imaginary People
To give me a better shot at catching a long-distance ride, my father dropped me off at the Pine Valley entrance to Interstate 8, about forty miles east of San Diego. He waited till I’d arranged my equipment along the roadside, then took out his camera.
October 2015
Making Ends Meet
Being rootless, hunting without a license, choosing to stay
September 2015
At The Cafe
He was skirting the outdoor tables, smelling faintly of urine, / singing his song and muttering naughty comments that made us / smile, and I wondered how life would have been different / if he’d been my dad.
May 2015
Sunbeams
January 2015The three great American vices seem to be efficiency, punctuality, and the desire for achievement and success. They are the things that make the Americans so unhappy and so nervous.
Shelter
Wilbur hadn’t ended up at the shelter because he’d drunk himself there, or squandered his money, or been caught cheating on a disability claim. No, Wilbur had ended up at Bartlett House because he’d never married or had children, and kin was how a man like Wilbur made it through the final years of his life.
October 2014
A Question Of Comfort
One gets used to ugliness so quickly. What we avert our eyes from one day is easily borne the next when we have learned a little more about love. Nurses know this, and so do mothers.
October 2014The Refrigerator
A mustard-colored declaration of love, holy pink boxes of leftover delicacies, long-necked brown beer bottles
September 2014
