the daily parade by
the homeless shelter chow line
APD central booking exit
every day a new sight to see
men fighting
children crying
women dying
one needle, one vein,
one hit at a time
nevermind
the salty tears
of a dying mind
long ago lost
but never known
enough to be forgotten
nevermind
the hunger pangs
of the crying child
too young to know
this is only the beginning
of the pain to come
the pin ***** of the needle
as it breaks the skin

winters's waning again
inspiration eludes me still
much more elusive
than this time last year
it's time to get up again
wake up and smell the coming
the coming of life, of love, of spring
a new beginning
a new start of the old, perhaps
time to reach out and grasp
that which is just out of reach
instead of sitting idly, watching
as the coming goes
and the present passes
the past engulfs everything
time slows for no one