Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Homeless man and rich girl, subway, ny

Homeless man and rich girl, subway, ny

1 comment:

Sarah Fordham said...

I am poet visiting NYC this week. I wrote a poem. I am sharing it with you because I googled for an image to go with it and found this one. I hope u like the poem.
Sarah F


The city sounded two voices

One is filled with the ideal self
Questing and finding and fulfilling
All sorts of highly visible desires

The other talks only to self
The homeless man people choose not to see
Worn and weary he sits by me
And I hear him speak on with darting eyes

In an incomprehensible murmur
Here is the city’s shadow
Its unacknowledged madness
It is in the man no one will look in the eye

Can I look backwards to see what he was
Or forwards to what he might become?
The other voice sounds over the top
Of this ever-present soundtrack

So few people hear it but it rises up
In the nightmares of the respectable
In every act of urban violence
In ever instance of self-loathing

It is unconscious and so dangerous
It is perpetual and so powerful
It confirms the rich in their identity
It covers the vulnerable in their insecurity

The city sounded two voices
I heard it as I sat by the homeless man
I held his gaze only for a few seconds
And was wounded by his madness

I left him talking to himself
Drinking the coffee he purchased
That made him equal with me
I turn and see him looking through glass

Our eyes searching space
For home or a place to hide?
The city sounded two voices tonight
And as I advance into the neon light

The murmur of his words rest
Upon the swell of an inner tide
But as I walk on they slip down
Disappearing forever into the soundless deep