Page 12
The State of Decay
by Maddy Brown-Clark
And I saw the bones
Of old crumbling buildings
In various states of decay
Where people once lived,
Bred and died.
I was sure that each
Building had a story to tell
They were written on the walls
That still stood
Among the ruins,
Primitive stories
Written in crayon
By imaginative children
Old cracks the homes
Of roaming spiders
And deserted rat holes
Yes every remaining inch
Told a story,
Like old blood splatters
On the wall
Mapping of a woman
Traveled there by the fist
Of the man she loved
The ashes of old love letters
Once wet with tears
A baby’s empty crib
All remnants
Some of joy
But most of suffering.
Poetry
The Tormented Soul
Street Roots • October 13-19, 2017
Derailed
by eileen vizenor
by Jay Plumlee
The tormented soul may bleed for many years
As is often the case. Lacking harmony
The misery can overshadow all
At times they plague our spirits
Until we are a hollow shell of
Our former selves. This comes to pass
Day or night, at times of peace and rest
By ourselves or surrounded by
Populaces we choose to be around or
A complete group of outcasts, our souls still cry out for
Humanity as we weep silently in ourselves
Then one day you discover quite by no
Intrigue of your own that we overcome
Plague that invaded your soul and I cast out in peace
The plague that has haunted the depth of your very
Being is satisfied.
today while selling papers in old town, i
could not help to notice a person who
saw something in a water drainage.
i could tell that he wanted the item
badly because he was very pursuant,
using anything he could find close by to
pry it to him. while watching, a
question popped in my head:
how did this person get derailed? hell,
how do any of us get derailed from life?
abusive family? genetics? a divorce? a
death? peer pressure? military service?
drugs and/or alcohol? no positive
influences, perhaps?
as i continued to observe, i had a
thought, society has ignored this
person, and so many others like him. i
feel we all have humanity in us so
spread it around! let’s work together as
a community, help all of them to get
back on track!