Jane

I am featuring this because of the severe winter weather happening in most of the USA I thought about this last night when the temperature dropped to 12 degrees~ 'She forgot who she was"..

 

 

 

She walks the streets
no shoes adorn her feet
bare
bruised
rough, calloused

She finds solace in an
old suitcase
it holds all her belongings
she treasures them

A book of poetry
a purple silk scarf
a comb with most of it's teeth missing
like it forgot to visit the dentist
and
a picture
little girl
blonde
blue eyes with
a smile that lights the darkest rooms

She knows of dark rooms
she lives in darkness
she had a flat but her job
well, her job let her go
so the man said, "Get Out"
she tried to get another job
"we're not hiring", they always said

After a time , a long time
she forgot her name
now,
well, now
she roams the dirty boulevard
and wonders who she is
and how she got here
she wonders who the little girl is
who's smile lights the darkness in which she lives

People sneer at her
laugh, point , stare
a woman with faded blue eyes
dirty blond hair
in Salvation Army rags
they laugh
they make her feel
'uncomfortable'
they call her
the bag lady
among other names

Sometimes she cries
though she is used to it
her stomach gnaws with hunger pains
as she searches the trash and dumpsters
for a crumb
just a crumb
one crumb

The man at the bakery watches her
his heart is not hard
he calls her
she doesn't hear him
because
she doesn't want to

She knows what he wants
laughing
sneering
pointing
she walks past

Some nights she sees Angels
they call her name
"Jane"
"Jane"
"Hello Jane,
do you know
someday you will inherit
this Earth"?

Someday isn't soon enough for
sweet Jane
someday needs to be today

"Jane, don't cry",
they say
"someday"
"someday"
"someday"

"Please", she whispers
"help me find my way home"
"please", she cries
"let me be visible again"

She feels so alone
she is alone
but when she looks at the faded photograph
her heart feels lighter
the world
brighter

She coughs a lot
her house leaks
her nose runs
her stomach aches with hunger pangs

The Angels visit her every day now
"Jane, someday is now"
"Are you going to show me the way home"?

"Follow the light Jane"
She feels warm for the first time
in so long
the feeling is surreal
the light radiates throughout her
filling her,satiating the hunger
cold, loneliness

In the distance
beneath a tree of
fragrant blossoms
by a stream as clear as crystaline crystal
sets the little girl
"Mommy", she cries
"You finally came home"




 

Author's Note

I am glad I wrote this one on wordpad.. people need to be aware of this ... and not all homeless are drug addicts or alcoholics.. most are people like you and me .. it is said most Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless.. it could happen to any of us!

Reviews

[Lionel Braud]

this poem has a lot going, it is a narrative poem full of heeartache and hope, and has a harsh sense of realism, contemporary urban realism, lot of rhymes and off rhymes, slant rhymes, good use of dialogue, not many use dialogue, robert frost did, this incorporates lots of poetic styles.

[[untitled]]

Chloe for President! I as an Australian, an ex rampant Junkie, Ive seen these things you speak of, and myself have experienced alot of what Jane has been thru. in a very personal way you have driven home a few obvious floors in our societies as a whole....I am now 5 years clean from twenty years of constant heroin abuse, and that has given me ability to look at it from a few diff angles, and one of the most valid points I might offer is, that in people like Jane and others with similar afflictions is, alot of them S**T all over so many so called upstanding citizens as they are people of the EARTH, people that are not ripping off the poor behind a curtain of BULLSHIT that is GEORGE BUSH and all that he stands for...People like that PRICK and his Chronies, are never goin to even consider helping these people, unless it is goin to get them votes at next election.....And yes,, John Howard, our Dismal Prime Minister, is of the same callibre, "WEAK AS PISS !".....I might add, the statistics, add valuable back up to a great poem......Your writing is BLOOMING Chloe, GO FOR IT GIRL !~ Sorry if I offended any Bushites~Howardheads But facts is facts....

[Jillian Alexis (has bee..]

i really enjoyed this piece. i thought it was really moving. its sad that it has to be true. I liked it with the statistics at the end. good write.

[BrightEyes]

This is a beautiful poem bringing attention to a tragedy that seems to exist everywhere. You capture the attitude of people towards the homeless so perfectly. The work stands well on its own but I agree that the statistics drive the point home. Leave them. Excellent write.

[Bubo]

Chloe, I have no idea how I missed reading this........but so glad I dropped by.
A very powerful piece of lonliness, loss and pain. Who are we to judge anyone?
London has the same problem, many many homeless people at the mercy of the
streets, and what do the goverment propose? Very little.
This story of Jane clearly in need of warmth and love is passed by daily by hundreds of
unfeeling people who judge, the anger I felt reading this makes your work exceptional.
You got your point across.

Some nights she sees Angels
they call her name
"Jane"
"Jane"
"Hello Jane,
do you know
someday you will inherit
this Earth"?

The meek will indeed inherit the earth.
The statistics at the end slammed the issue home.
Brilliant write my friend.

[Kitty Cat]

This is so sad, but you have such a gift with words, that you still managed to make a poem about such a sad subject, beautiful.

[Will Welch]

The poem is awesome--it is such a tragedy, but you write it so beautifully, I can read it again and again. You capture a very beautiful soul--and while I think the poem does make the point about how aweful and desparate homelessness can be, I would leave the statistic there also because it reminds us that it's not just a story, which makes it that much more painful and that much more meaningful

[Cheryl Ann Welch-Davis]

And all in the name of progress we have destroyed that which we claim to love.

Well done, and wonderfully said.

[Kali]

The poem speaks quite well on it's own. It's very poignant. The statistics are a nice touch at the end that just drive the point home. Keep it there.

[Andrea A. Wentz]

This brought a tear to my eye. Very moving and very true. Thank you for sharing this and God Bless you for it, for putting a face on a tragedy that is all around us.

[Vicki Phipps]

Inspires me to see beyond my own front yard. Good writing and message!