homeless man

musing as i wander home from a movie theater in downtown washington, dc

i've read the books and seen the papers in the morning,

attend the free screenings though i shield my eyes from the

blood and the tearing apart of lives, loves and flesh

as our countries' leaders

on their rocking-horse tirades

mean so much less comfort to those outside of their offices -

content to stay a bit longer.

but i walk home in thoughts of my own duties

amid our impassioned conversations about the film we just saw

i avert my eyes to his unsightliness;

we pass by, shoelaces knotted 

pitter pattering over the concrete 

one hand wrapped around 

a can of soda.

i nod to the ragged man on the corner as he beseeches,

fingering the denied coins in my pockets, as full as i need them to be,

vocal about an unreal injustice 

and then,

back into life.

my words float into oblivion and perhaps 

they will guide an action, some where.

but we want to come home for christmas, and we want the morning paper to tell us more

 things we cannot understand

and we go to bed full:

As the astronomer pens down another glowing explosive for study 

as the weather woman names another hurricane in her pant suit and then drifts off to sleep

and

the tuxedoed gentleman plucks from the flower beds,

pins the violet to his chest,

and sets off to dance another comfortable night.