ADULT POETRY WINNERS
1ST PLACE
SUN
By Ronald Norman
What is a sunset that seemingly begins and ends in darkness?
The light is my friend, despite the challenges I face with clouds blocking my light…
Poverty and struggle share DNA, and today is not yesterday, but tomorrow is promising with hope…
The shelter is filled with demons, yet the angels are present and revered…
Homelessness is not the end of the world…
What is a sunrise to a man overwrought with regret concerning a lifetime of unhealthy decisions…
The inner voices arrogantly profess that losing is the only thing that I am successful at, especially since I am homeless…
I listen, yet I don’t respond…
Healthy, Confident, and always open to change remains my mindset despite the fact that it is oftentimes strange being in a place in time that you could never imagine as a child full of dreams…
Things happen…
Things just happen to happen…Life happens!
I reside in a place where darkness continues to fall, yet the sun will not cease to shine on my small corner of the world…
God has mercy and grace that favors the just as well as the unjust, and living in poverty is not a reason not to trust in the only one who gives life to all things living…
Death is life is death…All I have left is hope and faith…
So what is a sunset to every days that seemingly begin and end in darkness?
NEVER THE LESS, THE SUN WILL SHINE, AND DESPITE HOW SIMILAR, NO TWO DAYS ARE ALIKE
2ND PLACE
How Can This Be?
By Mae Thompson
How can this be
O’, how can this be
Why is there
No place for me
Friends are all gone
Where? I do not know
They promised to meet me
But they did not show
Family too
Where are they
No one told me
There were going away
I knocked and I knocked
Till my knuckles pained so
But all my knocking brought
No answer from the door
With friends all gone
And family disappeared
I trotted to the nearest shelter
Drenched in tears
How can this be
O’, how can this be
Out of all the places
There is not one for me
Copyright Homeless Grapevine Issue #87 in July 2009 in Cleveland Ohio.