HOMELESS
Do you ever wonder how it feels
To be one of the ones
Whose existence has been declared
illegal
Because their poverty has been pronounced
a crime?
It means your every daily activity
Has been declared
invalid
And therefore
interruptible.
It means that when you wash dishes
You are causing
"a sanitation problem."
It means you are expected to feel
guilty
For merely being alive (and I do.)
When will they learn
That it doesn't work
To be angry with me
for continuing to exist
and having nowhere else to be
and therefore remaining
in their faces?
They have too narrow a definition
of what constitutes
a valid existence.
But it doesn't matter what I think
of their definitions
Because I am still the one
whose existence has been declared
invalid.
Don't they know how it sounds to us
when they endlessly bellow,
"You're still here!
You were told to leave
two weeks ago!"
Pardon me, sir, for remaining
on the planet
beyond the time limits
which you obviously have
the right to set.
I guess I need it explained to me
again
that I have no right
to exist.
And this one appeared in their following issue:
ON THE "RELAXATION" OF EUGENE'S
CAMPING BAN
It almost seems
That we've realized our dreams;
The voice of Eugene has spoken:
The old camping ban
Was a most foolish plan--
And now it's been partially broken.
But the homeless out here
Are still living in fear
Of visits from ignorant cops.
We're doing our best,
But we won't really rest
'Till all the harassment stops.