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.

[ashley]

This is powerful and by the end I had tears in my eyes. This terrifies me, to be so alone with absolutely nothing. I couldn't imagine. It's horrible. You did an incredible job of expressing the emotions, and I love the story you told. Sad that it's such a common story.
Fantastic job! :D

[SM Davis]

I agree wholeheartedly. PERFECT PIECE OF LITERATURE YOU HAVE HERE....fabulous!!

[K. Carver]

Wow. This opens my eyes up.
Amazingly done.
Just, wow.

[Pax Analog]

Haunting, concise, compassionate rendering.

Indeed, not only is it a slim margin for so many of us to be on the street, but your Jane poem conveys the sense of all mortal souls being amnesiacs in the wilderness, no matter what their apparent station.

It reminds me yet again, of an oft-quoted, classic Leonard Cohen lyric line: "There is a crack, a crack, in everything/That's how the light gets in."

Home is the Heart.

[ThereseAline]

Very emotional. Touching piece. Thanks for sharing.

[Sweet_pale_cacophony]

Firstly brightest of blessings to you..my friend...I love it when someone incorporates a story into a poem..it is so challenging..love your narrative and style but i would say that the length of the poem could have been shorter you know..just putting forward a suggestion..i feel a poem loses it's grip on the reader's mind when it becomes too long but again i have done that with my poems too..
keep writing and have a very good day..

[Coyote Poetry]

A sad and beautiful poem. I lived in Monterey. I sat with the homeless people and listen to their stories. Many left for the same reason in the poem. I lost my child. I would become useless.. A nice ending to a sad story.
Coyote

[Rei]

It is hard as people to tell the difference between the drug addicts and the run out of luckers but like you state we should not be so quick to judge. I like how you took a well deserved dive into the hearts of some homeless people. It is a crime to see it happen and it is sad to know that there is so much we could probably do but we dont. It was such a sad little story you laid out to open our eyes and it was beautiful if not heart wrenching. Thank you for writing this.

[John McGrael]

wow....
i see why you hold this one dear

the last line is phenomenal,
"'mommy' she cries, 'you finally came home'"

this poem is amazing

[jdog]

this is great. i really enjoyed this. daedal word choice. could you please read this story and tell me what you think http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/zzjordan89zz/450998/