homeless: greenway
note: the black sheep brothers
sleep on the biking greenway,
the path from here to eternity
or bella vista, missouri anyway.
sisters too, splayed, displayed
on the asphalt, passed out,
eyes shut, cans and bottles,
mouths open, ragtag shirts,
skirts, shoes, toiletries heaped
on the rage of wet grass.
and this: four thousand dollar
bikes whizzing by, trek and
specialized and cannondale,
calling out watch out there, what
the hell you sleeping there for?
then: how many of our disaffected
brothers, sisters, cousins, might have
died of too much booze too, too many
years ago, the black sheep of the family,
the baa baa black sheep who had no wool at all?
say what: the sociologists, who make
a study of it, say that homelessness =
catastrophic loss of family.