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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 2017)
Street Roots • Nov. 3-9, 2017 Poetry Page 13 Back From Crack Dazed by Deb Ann Debozy by Jaison Kirk The moonbeams and the starlight do their magical dance Around one wandering aimlessly, as if in a trance. The energies at work here escape the naked eye. Waking up in a daze, I find my way into the office taking smiles and good cheer until I can get that first cup of coffee Small things said and done here are not what they imply. Things that seem concrete to me are merely murky haze. What were hours just moments ago have melted into days. A glass full of Joe and smoke outside I find a semblance of normal talking with the other vendors about the world out there The road ahead is foggy, yet still I walk along, Never paying mind to the fact that the road I took was wrong. Shadows to my left and right strike fear into my heart. Street Roots is a microcosm of the country and yet w find a way to cope Two years I have haunted the office because it gives me hope. Every day a chance to earn my way and meet a new friend or two What started out as a Sunday stroll is now tearing me apart. From a distance screams are heard, or is that from inside? I can’t run fast enough now and there’s no place left to hide. Desperate cries are echoing back to their lonely source. My mind just spins and races now, searching for recourse. Street Roots gives me a chance to escape my head, the crowd and any situation It’s cold and dark and damp here, I’m lonely, lost and scared, But somehow God inside me says, “What’s broken can be repaired.” Suddenly, the turbulent winds that blew calmed to a gentle breeze, A peace and a love overcame me then, the kind that lifts and frees. It swept away the dark shadows, now half out of sight, And I’m bathed in the warming glow of the sunshine’s brilliant light. I Wish I Were N o t... by Aileen McPherson So anxious, my feet would you sit still, My heart you are running a marathon, Yet still breathing so shallow, will you Think I should reside under the hill, Native freedom is what I seek, living Healing, my mother calls, time to rest, It’s OK to weep, head to chest her Heart does beat, patting head till Sound I sleep. i I I I j j 1 Applications accepted through November 7 Details and job description: F o r t I t id < 1 streetroots.org/DD albert;
