Long Panhandlers Poems

1

Sunrise, late winter
skunk smell
turkey flock
playful otter, too.

The white heron
a great blue,
white phase,
in the abandoned beaver pond.

Purple clematis
its long-awned achenes
in globose heads
spidery, fiery, extravagant fruit!

To identify or classify
birds by
the complexity or beauty
of their songs.

And so
what is...

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Walking Meditation
                    by Odin Roark

“And I thought marriage was hard.”

Taking Meditation for a walk
nags me with...

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(a series of micro vignettes)

Chella and I are reading our analysis assignments together because that’s how we link and build.
We read out loud too, because how else can you judge the flow?
When my phone, lying...

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I am married to a man who gives money generously
Not only to me but to every person with their hand out
This used to not be a problem but these days panhandlings is a full-time job.
The...

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Soft silhouettes sashay by my window
Grievingly gazing out unto a world of which you may never know
Linen curtains briefly ruffled in the breeze
Old drunken Julius finds shade under the huge oak trees
The echoes of poverty...

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Written By:  D. Collins 5/7/24


Goodness in people dominates from the inside out.
Dismissing downtrodden people is not what it's about.
To avoid panhandlers' people would take a different route.
To ensure their lack of bathing didn't land...

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I see her walking in front of my shop.
Wears a Miniskirt,
Worried face,
Skin and bones. 

Asking for change.
I usually, ignore panhandlers. 
That day, while looking for change.
I asked:

What’s your name?
Diana Murphy
Diana Mary?
How you know my middle...

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There; in the waterfall,
 I join many tears.

My tears pour from aching knees,
burdened with hearts of solid gold
preaching equality; from voiceless
leaders.

Panhandlers, clutching symphonies
in four lines, covet

corners that prey upon my
peace- just their day job.

Every check-out...

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Homelessness

Homelessness is not an illness, People have lost their damn minds with a bunch of silliness. People who are homeless get stereotyped as Alcoholics, Mentally ill, Panhandlers, and Drug users, Whoever says this about all...

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Resolutions confront me at the...
End of each year, but we're such
Strange bedfellows. I hardly make them!
Once in a blue moon, I snugly
Lasso them, but I always end
Up severing the rope within months
Those I've kept I'm...

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You Did It Unto Them,
Ye Did It Unto Me
Miracle Man
3/10/2023

I’m besieged by panhandlers on the street,
With extended hands and with signs they greet.
I seldom fall for stories they’re dishing,
But asking is more gainful than wishing.

Many...

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i have kissed beneath summer’s sweltering
fragrance your array of spackled decay

in lovely gardens; sweet roses weltering
plundered and plucked; an incidental lay

beneath your satin I have run my fingers, 
trembled as famished breasts groped my 
own;...

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Are you truly homeless and hungry?
The cardboard sign with crooked letters says you are...
I only have a red lights time to decide.
Some say panhandlers make a good "living"
...are you one of them

Your clothes are dirty...

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