Susan Sailer: Life That Hard

23 degrees. He sat on the sidewalk near a street with a stoplight,

a sign propped beside him

HELP 

I born deaf, homeless             

Anything help

On two layers of cardboard, knitted cap pulled down over

his forehead, wrapped in blankets pulled close, hands inside

Stopped at the light, I sat in my car, seat-warmer on high,

took out three dollars, opened the car door, laid them over

the few quarters in his plastic box

Despite misery–and who, faking it, would sit on a sidewalk

with nothing but cardboard between him and freezing–

despite misery

The river was nearby,  deep enough

He, there

Copyright 2017 Susan Sailer

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