the unequal path

Bystanding Innocence

so cold this time a year, you go down in the streets
i'm met by your smile, and you by my ignorance
on an equal path relevance does not exist
turning away punching with my fist

i wanna give you my smile as you want my coin
dirt and dust, in whom do we trust?
explanation's poor, my coin's your door
to your freedom, or was it?

a painter by your side, they took his picture
your days like the weather, unpredictable
hope the sun will shine on you
and the rain will fall down where it belongs

FinsburyParkCarrots

i wanna give you my smile as you want my coin
dirt and dust, in whom do we trust?
explanation's poor, my coin's your door
to your freedom, or was it?


These are very good lines. There's an indictment of capitalist wealth and how it confines rather than liberates people. The line "in whom do we trust" makes me think of the Ten artwork for Even Flow, with the dollar bill. But what could liberate people is the human interaction between us, if we could transcend the ideology of inequality, between the affluent or homeless. But how can we do that?

Bystanding Innocence

thanks, just wanted to write something. sometimes when i go out to eat lunch i see all these beggers and homeless people. it such a shame. the inequality. and it is wrong that everyone sees the homeless as one group. i am so curious to their background. how they ended up like that, and how they actuially feel, sitting there begging for a coin.

FinsburyParkCarrots

Writing a first person narrative from a homeless person's perspective would be really tough. What voice would we use? How would we handle descriptive writing? Surely we'd need to switch off a "realist" writer's perspective of detail and try to see the world from a certain viewpoint. How would we deal with thought patterns, memories, fears? It'd be a difficult task and, even if we didn't pull it off as writers, it might give us better empathy and understanding of individuals on the streets.

justam

Bystanding Innocence wrote:

thanks, just wanted to write something. sometimes when i go out to eat lunch i see all these beggers and homeless people. it such a shame. the inequality. and it is wrong that everyone sees the homeless as one group. i am so curious to their background. how they ended up like that, and how they actuially feel, sitting there begging for a coin.

I used to wonder that too.

I used to see this one woman selling balloons in SF when I used to work downtown. I used to give her money everyday because I worried about her...she had been beautiful and yet there she was...sitting on a dirty corner behind a building. After a while, I felt like she was embarrassed that I always gave her money, but she still looked like she was depending on my smile too.

I've never forgotten that woman.

twin1

I feel the same way regarding homeless people. It upsets and angers me how others act like they don't exist because they are down and out and live a different way. Each person has a story, their story and it is worth listening to, you might learn something. There are good and bad people everywhere but you don't know which until you choose to find out. Good read...