ask a homeless person
what is home to you?
ideally, it’s a safe place
comfortable and pleasant
my sanctuary from the world
where people love you…family
home is peace, not just a roof
maybe a tent on an ocean beach
even a sleeping bag under a bridge
anywhere you lay your head to rest
people look right past me
have you ever felt invisible?
after mom died, no family left
now depend on disability checks
you know how VA ignores veterans
no shelters for people with pets
self-medicating mental illness
spent rent money on crack
nobody will hire an ex-convict
hard when you lose everything
maybe we’re all homeless
looking for the key to security
Inspired by documentary, “Signs of Humanity” (2016) available on amazon.com based on artist Willie Baronet’s coast to coast trip to collect (buy) signs from homeless people for his “We Are All Homeless” art exhibits.
a poem in my pocket 
Mar 13, 2020 @ 05:52:24
I’m registered homeless but have my little sisters as a care of address so I can receive my benefits and register at a doctors. I feel for the people with out family and always go out my way to give them money food or drink even if I go with out when passing them on the street. Even stopping for 5 minutes an egnoleging them as a human.
Mar 13, 2020 @ 21:54:07
Glad you have your sisters and that you reach out to the lonely. Thanks for commenting, Alan!
Jan 12, 2020 @ 16:42:13
The only home anyone can say they have with certainty is Planet Earth. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Jan 12, 2020 @ 21:19:15
True…
Jan 11, 2020 @ 15:23:30
I find that there are so many reason people are homeless, but the common denominator is that they are made invisible.
Jan 10, 2020 @ 17:18:26
Poignant and all too true for many.
Jan 10, 2020 @ 21:25:23
It’s sad to see and hard to know how to help.
Jan 10, 2020 @ 12:05:38
Sometimes we forget that we are blessed with so much … I am humbled by this poem. Thank you for writing 💝
Jan 10, 2020 @ 21:26:50
Thanks for reading, Sanaa 🙂
Jan 09, 2020 @ 21:29:50
I like the last two lines about all of us being homeless looking for security.
Jan 09, 2020 @ 21:30:24
Thanks, Frank.
Jan 09, 2020 @ 20:52:33
I see them around the subway and city stops. It is really difficult to find that peace when one is being treated as invisible.
Jan 09, 2020 @ 21:11:08
We need to converse with homeless people to figure out solutions, I think.
Jan 09, 2020 @ 18:08:59
Great poem. Compelling words and great descriptions of sad truths.
Jan 09, 2020 @ 21:05:45
Thanks for your comment! I appreciate you stopping by to read.
Jan 07, 2020 @ 16:43:01
we may all be looking for security but being truly homeless with no safe shelter to sleep is a very frightening matter!
Jan 08, 2020 @ 07:41:11
Absolutely! I took that line, “we are all homeless”, from the artist’s exhibit but certainly don’t want to minimize their extremely difficult/dangerous plight.
Jan 08, 2020 @ 14:39:02
ah they were trying to normalise their experience so that others might stop looking through them … know that feeling all too well!
Jan 08, 2020 @ 16:17:09
Thanks, Kate…yes, we all need to be recognized.
Jan 08, 2020 @ 18:43:28
absolutely, that being invisible is the pits!