The Man Under The Bridge

In this town

The nights are for the kids

But the morning’s

They are for

The homeless

They walk down the empty streets

Picking up the secrets

Left behind

By the drunk and stoned kids

That flooded the bars

The night before

The houseless

Wander around

As the sun

Pokes her head out

There’s a man

Sitting outside of a Walgreens

Talking to a giant poster

That has a beautiful asian lady on it

The rays from the sun

Warm his skin up

He is

Still

A human

After all

Just like the kids

Just like the fathers

And the mayors

And the teachers

And the nurses

And the bankers

They are all simply

Human

But,

When the bankers

Spit on the houseless

And

The mayors

Play games with them

To win

Votes

Then I’m not sure

Who are the humans

And who are

The animals

These savages

With deep pockets

Love drawing lines

In the pavement

As they put themselves

On the side

Of the righteous

Something like animals watching animals at the zoo.

Yes, these blood-thirsty bankers

Have an image

To maintain

They cannot be seen

On the other side

Of their lines

And all while

Their kids

Get blackout drunk

And snort lines of coke

Off of the bathroom sink

One of their kids

Is still drunk and high

And he is

On his phone

As the man who was making friends with the poster

Pushes his cart

Across the street

They collide

One human with a shopping cart

And the other human

With his car

That his dad

Paid for

He drags the body of the man to the side of the street

And takes his tarp that he had in his shopping cart

And covers the homeless man

Hiding his secrets

From everyone else

He calls his dad

And tells him about what happened

His father

The banker

Tells him

Not to worry

He tells him

That no one is going to care

After all

He was just

Another lazy

Mentally ill

Man

Who was on the wrong side

Of the line.

-C.H.