A man sleeps on the sidewalk beneath the window of Sleep Country twenty empty mattresses illuminated above his head behind tempered glass
drunks who smell like rotting roses slouch barefoot in front of Shoe Outlet
garbage picked over by crows and desperate men piss and broken glass walk don’t walk mottled flesh and fancy cars sweat and exhaust chewing gum ground into coloured circles on the pavement
this is how we live together and share only one blanket
and still the sun rises proclaiming blind glory. — Michelle Barker, First Published in Room, 2006
