Poverty in August

6:00 a.m. I'm hungry
again, belly empty, head full
tired, I get up make a pot of
bitter generic coffee
and peanut butter toast
look for jobs
company after company
no reply
do my dishes, sweep my floor
1:00 p.m.
pack up 2 bags of laundry
scrape together 5 dollars
walk 4 blocks in 115 degree heat
search for a water fountain
put my whole face in
wash, dry, the dryer didn't work
pack up my wet clothes
walk 4 blocks back home
a guy pulls over thinking I'm a hooker
I keep walking
fall on the air mattress
exhausted
catch my breath
hang up my clothes
3:30 p.m.
there's a few days left on my bus pass
walk 3 blocks to the bus stop
I stand as the metal bench is hot
catch the bus to the plasma center
a drunk guy next to me reeks of piss
45 minutes later
drained of fluid for 20 dollars
fatigued, eating the free cookie
wait for the bus home
it's down to 105 degrees
6:30 p.m. hungry again
walk 2 blocks to the dollar store to get
a 69 cent pack of noodles and 1 dollar soda crackers
walk back home
for the night
as I wait for the water to boil
the ambulance sirens are starting again
the neighbor's t.v. is loud
a guy says, "poor people are lazy."
I turn on the fan to drown out the noise

Reviews

[sereenaoutloud]

Wow this is good, really good! IT tugs at the great strings and he fight people have to get out of poverty, Not Just the financial fight or the physically fight but the fight against the judgement too!

[Sheila Kline]

You certainly have nailed the drudgery and downright hard work it is to be caught in the web of poverty, right down to those who think it is easy, and those who have little are only free loaders.......it's really all so very sad! There are times when the harder we work to get past hard times, the more they are piled upon us!
Excellent, "gut wrenching" write!

[ANTO]

A powerful tale Emily - you took the reader with you through every sweat-laden grimey street on every down-heartening walk. Its soul destroying - and then the coup de grace - "poor people are lazy" ...
You write real life where unicorns and faeries have long since departed. Its not depressing, for me, it is an example of the strength of the human spirit.
Thanks for sharing this superb writing with us.

[Emily]

Thank you!

[ANTO]

YVW Emily :)