This rough, free-form poem was one of my first, written in Spring 2024 and left unedited. I began exploring poetry after spending several years studying homelessness, substance use disorder, and other public health issues. Edited versions will be shared later.
The poem is about an unsheltered man looking for a place to sleep.
The streetlight
illuminates
an empty park bench.
His body aches for sleep,
his feet drag,
and shoulders sag
by the weight
of many days carried.
He can’t sleep
not there…
Only,
if he wants
to be arrested.
The darkness
calls to him
like a siren,
Luring him
to the blackness
between the lattice.
He disappears
under the gazebo
in the city park.
Rustling stirs
around his head,
Still,
he doesn’t dread,
Rest doesn’t come easy
when you’re
hanging by a thread,
but sleep
arrives in a hurry.
Perfectly Human 