The Mirror Effect

The road we travel is obvious to everyone but ourselves.

[Life]

I

A man with no shoes

walks by with a limp.

His arms -

covered

in tattoos

and scars -

are lethargic

by choice.

The biting

winter sun

delivers respite

from late December

northerlies.

He reeks of Franzia.

Redolent, it shadows

him, haunts

him like what he drinks

to forget.

His unkempt white beard

is stained yellow

around the mouth

from years of cigarettes

and no-shave Novembers.

He dons a jacket

- faded glory -

that is two sizes too small

and his pants stay together

like a couple for their kids.

Too proud to join

the Salvation Army

on Christmas Eve,

he finds his bench,

lies down

and survives

one

more

night.

II

A man in a suit

drives home in an Audi.

His collar

is stained

with cheap lipstick

and Chateau Lagrange

from last night's

late night meetings.

Angie, his wife,

waits anxiously

at the door

of their four bedroom,

three and a half bath

Victorian.

Her eyes -

still puffy

and red -

fixated up Swann St.

She is not blinking

and barely breathing.

The kids

have been sent to Grandma's

for the night.

They watch TV -

SpongeBob SquarePants.

The Audi

drives by a man on a bench

He looks asleep -

possibly dead.

The suit inside thinks to himself:

“That poor man.”

Author's Note

I'm sorry I keep changing this thing! haha. I am really never satisfied with a poem. :) What do you think of it now?

Reviews

[What happened to simple..]

I'm glad I stumbled upon this =) so very glad! Such a sweet flow you got going on there, every word meant so much, and the 'suit' at the end is genius, though I would have loved it if the S were capitalised =P

but such great irony, sarcasm, really fab =) xx

[Silver~]

I really enjoyed this poem and how you changed perspective! It flows quite nicely and it keeps me wanting to read more as it is very captivating :) The ending is quite satisfying and I'm hoping I will be able to read more of your work

[Buddhistboy73]

The two sides of reality, both valid, both sad in my (humble) opinion. You've done a good job of capturing life here my friend....the line we walk every day, passing people that we are interconnected with, yet at the same time have no connection with.....:)
Thanks for sharing your insights....

BB

[Allan Eddings]

Bravo!

One of the most accessible and readable pieces I have seen here in a long time. The dry sarcasm that flows through the poem is marked by a sincere sadness at the source of wit in the subject matter. Which lends it a wonderful power: making it humorous and sincere, without being light or depressing. Congratulations in all sincerity.

I will have to keep reading more of your work.

Thank you,
A.E.

[Just Plain Me]

I'm so glad you sent me a request...this is truely an amazing poem :)

[Adelia Alighieri]

I think this is brilliant. The flow works miraculously. I loved reading it, well done!

[emmajoy]

An empathic poem that stands as an example in format and content; a respect for literary style and more importantly to me, an awareness of society and how it is .. cruel, cold, distanced but somehow aware .

[Sweets]

I'm glad that you liked it :)
But I enjoyed reading it more :)
It grabbed my attention from the first few lines!
Such a good poem :)
-Sweets

[MarcoftheBeast]

great write, felt the perfect twist in it.well done.

[InkSlinger]

I read this a week or so ago.. and found it to be a super write then.. but with each revision.. it has been refined, reworked, and re-delivered.. each time the you have improved this little gem.. again, a SUPER write..

[M. Stein]

I really love this. Its somewhat what i feel when i see homeless. It makes you feel empathetic towards him, instead of sympathetic.