Panhandlers (poem) by Michael C Jones on AuthorsDen

Panhandlers
by Michael C Jones → (All Poetry by Michael C Jones)
Rated "PG13" by the Author.

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I saw a veteran and his family living in the park over a decade ago. Him, his wife, and two kids and I have been enraged every since! Believe me homelessness doesn't care about age nor gender. There are over a quarter million veterans that will sleep on vents and under bridges tonight! Not only them but countless numbers of everyday people, excuse me American people! Peace!!!
To be a qualified panhandler, you must be jobless, homeless, and broke, and above all uniquely worthless! For this to is in the eyes of the beholder. Change is constant and nothing stays the same. A red rose's compelling Spring beauty, come first frost it withers and die, as chaff blown into the distant wind. This world constantly evolving, human knowledte in hyperspace, exploring new plateaus, in the uttermost galaxies. Some secrets are given to kings, other secrets are given to paupers, some hidden things are better left undone! Those grocery cart pushers in torn, smelly, dirty, decaying clothes, bodies crying for water, its cleasing! Sleeping in parks, alleys, and gutters at Hart Plaza on heating vents outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, in Winter's killing Christmas cold! The make shift cardboard homes, where mail won't come nor go. On sidewalks all over America! We pretend we don't see or get involved, but you are involved for life is like a teeter totter up and down we go.

Reviewed by Linda Hill

Reviewed on July 23, 2008

Michael,
This poem says it all. There's nothing more I can add. I also write for the homeless, in fact I plan to post one of them this morning. I have great empathy for these precious people. By the grace of God go I. Any of us could be in their shoes at any time. Economy is at an all time low, it gets harder all the time to survive. Thank you for this poem, my friend. I'm sure it has opened alot of people's eyes. It opened mine.

Blessings always,
~Linda

Reviewed by Karen Palumbo

Reviewed on July 15, 2008

As you listen to the many stories each tell you find the common thread is not the failure of the individual, but the failure of society as a whole. Each has a unique story to share all pass through the many spectrums of life. You have expressed such emotion well and it is so disturbing how a country with riches beyond imagination could turn their backs. God is watching.....

Be always safe,
Karen

Reviewed by Edwin Hurdle

Hey Micheal,it is a sad commentary on the type of country and world we live in and everything you express in your poem is the truth.Unemployment is high,the economy is crashing down,but yet the President feels it is important to win in Iraq and go to an unjust war,then to care about the veterans who have given and sacrifice their lives for this country along with ordinary everyday working American people.Thanks for sharing this poem.I'm sure everyone is disgusted at the level of homelessness rising in this country the way you express it in your poem.

Edwin