Chris the Bum

There you are.

Sleeping in the bushes behind the cemetery on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Life is hard. 

Your refrigerator box needs mending.

Maybe a shave and a hair cut 

will mix better signals gotta,

gotta get some booze in the system it's

almost two. 

What's your name?

here's mine.

 -time- 

is of the essence, Chris.

how's your history

what's your story

you're boring?

that's okay

there's dick to do, we've got all day

i'll buy you shoes.

and by the way i dig your dumpster dance, 

the hustle is priceless. 

there's that smile!

it's me.

yeah.

that's right.

we've been locking eyes for over a week 

now

here's five dollars.

I don't care what you do with this.

but if you'll tell me why,

i'll make that five a ten 

-my friend.

so tell me...

really.

and for eight years now.

well that isn't interesting at all.

why don't you just get a job?

"This is my f*****g job you f*****g c**k sucker!!!"

well said.

here's that five take care.

© jnw

Reviews

[A.r. Bazian]

i loved it!
weird but interesting enough!
keep 'em coming

[Emily B]

highly effective form and structure

[An Ordinary Woman]

This is fantastic, really it is. The form and structure plays right into the dialog & message. Love it!!!!

[Mary]

love it. its like skipping lol but with your mind.

[mildly biased]

Fantastic piece, really fun to read. As already stated by a few others, I heartily add my voice to the chorus praising your formatting style. :)

The two contrasting voices in the poem really make the magic here: 1) The speaker, with a casual, lighthearted way of almost poking fun at the "bum" in question, while still trying to help out in some small way, and 2) The bum who seems to simultaneously enjoy the wry levity of the speaker while resenting the condescension of his advice.

Kudos.

[CalebSchadeck]

I liked the way you formated the poem, love the story line about time and how it can be you enemy (thats what I got out of it) good read!

[Judy Ponceby]

Fascinating. Love the use of formatting.

[i.am.the.sun.]

haha this was great, a fun read! definitely enjoyed the end, and i agree, the formatting adds quite a bit to it :) thanks for sharing!

[S. Georgia]

The formatting on this actually aids the flow and the feel of the poem. Good job.