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Wonderful silhouette G. It really would make a great album cover.

Cate wrote:Wonderful silhouette G. It really would make a great album cover.

thank you much, dear cate. good to 'see' you again! i should really have commented on many other peoples' posts, but have been engaged elsewhere, and time does not always permit such extravagance -gx

So, G, I live in low-income housing in a low-income flat and I have a low-income. When I walk the four blocks to the small grocery store there are at least eight "regular" homeless people with their shopping carts and usually a few floaters coming through. One woman is in her sixties, never wears shoes, walks a five mile route daily and her cart overflows with all her worldly goods. I see these people daily. Most stand in front of the little grocery store asking for change, etc. The system is broken that is meant to help these people. They rely on their handouts. I probably could afford to give about $2.00 a day to someone or 25 cents to 8 people. Or should I wait and save up $5.00 and then pick someone who looks like they need the most help?

I've been posting with my hand out and a "please don't pass me by" smile my whole social media life. Sometimes I get lucky but I've been on boogie street too long for great expectations.

xo
Dar

LOL ~ great treatise on the topic, g

Thanks for the actual lyric, Karren xxx, and the point in the right direction, Maarten
Yes, I think of cowboy, too, Mat.

dar wrote:So, G, I live in low-income housing in a low-income flat and I have a low-income. When I walk the four blocks to the small grocery store there are at least eight "regular" homeless people with their shopping carts and usually a few floaters coming through. One woman is in her sixties, never wears shoes, walks a five mile route daily and her cart overflows with all her worldly goods. I see these people daily. Most stand in front of the little grocery store asking for change, etc. The system is broken that is meant to help these people. They rely on their handouts. I probably could afford to give about $2.00 a day to someone or 25 cents to 8 people. Or should I wait and save up $5.00 and then pick someone who looks like they need the most help?

I've been posting with my hand out and a "please don't pass me by" smile my whole social media life. Sometimes I get lucky but I've been on boogie street too long for great expectations.

xo
Dar

thank you so much, dar, for sharing this. it made me be less complaining about my predicament and more thankful for the small mercies that people offer. the outstanding bills and meagre amounts of food on my plate are nothing compared to the suffering of others. anyway, it's really good to have you around. you disappear very effectively, and last time i 'saw' you (on youtube?) you had gone and changed you name again. i don't know if you have regular access to the internet, and cannot find you amongst the people on my facebook friends list - so keeping in touch is very hit and miss. i seem always to wait for you to take the initiative. i hope things improve, dar, that your circumstances change for the better - your load becomes lighter and such hardship lessens considerably. i think of you often. stay cool, but most of all take care xxx

Although my post was true G I actually didn't "have my hand out" on this one. I was trying to compare the culture of the homeless in my neighborhood, their constant requests for spare change, and how they do not expect any but sometimes get lucky and get a few cents with the social network way of putting ourselves out there and hoping for a few cents worth of comment but not really expecting any.

(This is why I don't write poetry anymore. You were being nice and thinking of those less fortunate and hoping their situation improves. I was trying to create a connection between the way we gather, wait, and hope for a hand-out on the internet and street culture. I saw something poetic in the two. Didn't you?)

dar wrote:Although my post was true G I actually didn't "have my hand out" on this one. I was trying to compare the culture of the homeless in my neighborhood, their constant requests for spare change, and how they do not expect any but sometimes get lucky and get a few cents with the social network way of putting ourselves out there and hoping for a few cents worth of comment but not really expecting any.

(This is why I don't write poetry anymore. You were being nice and thinking of those less fortunate and hoping their situation improves. I was trying to create a connection between the way we gather, wait, and hope for a hand-out on the internet and street culture. I saw something poetic in the two. Didn't you?)

well, i don't write anything poetic any more either, in fact apart from a sub-standard painting or two i am not creative at all. so we have that in common, you and i - but yes, i see the connection you write about. people in destitute and underprivileged circumstances, often by no fault of their own, truly pull at the heart strings. the fact that you feel compassion for such folk is a testament to the warmth and kindness of your personality, and this world could do with a lot more like you. we have beggars here, but not many because this is just a small fishing town. they sit on the pavement in the wet and cold, and make eye-contact as i pass by - and i know that whatever i give it's like a drop in a fjord - and i don't know what the answer really could be. maybe there is no solution, in any case not as far as i can see. the salvation army has what is called 'varmestua' (warm lounge), a house where they can call in and get some warm soup. it makes me think of what jesus said when one of his disciples watched a woman rubbing expensive perfume into his hair to make him smell nice. "this is wrong," said the disciple, "because we could have sold that perfume and given the money to the poor people." "shut your mouth," answered jesus, "those damned vagrants will always be around, but i'm just here for a short time!" (Matthew 26:11) yeh, loads of sympathy he had for them.

Your art work is a wonderful expression of your amazing creativity G. But, your poetry. You can write man. And I really miss the way your words used to stir this community up. No one quite knew what to make of you when you let loose. You come across as very gentle and mellow now. Not that it's a bad thing but you did have a unique insight and a way with words that affected the climate of this place. You're a force for change G.

It makes me sad to think that you are not writing much anymore. What would Leonard say?!

dar,
That connection you make between poetry and street people; both seeking the crumbs of others' generosity of spirit is a very apt one.
I missed the connection until you pointed it out.
Who am I to say, but I think you could develop it further if you were so inspired; A poem, a song, a short story?
It is very original.

I like to write poems and I very rarely share them except on this forum. I write less lately but I enjoy visiting and catching up with other peoples thoughts.
So the forum has been good for me.

...and I agree with your comments about Geoffrey and his unique wit.

...your thoughts have taken me to Tolstoy. Tolstoy "hit the road" just before he passed away in a tavern or hotel and decided to end his days on the road, so to speak. My favorite character of his was an old man at a ferry crossing (the book was Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy, Book 3, chapter XXI).

http://www.readbookonline.net/read/10575/26279/

I think Tolstoy wanted to be this "old man"; was this old man at "the ferry crossing" of his life.
That old man and your friends on the street are only a few crumbs apart, as I see it.

Thanks for the thought trail, dar.

MatbbgJ

Thanks for the spare change Matt. You get the idea. It's a good feeling.

Help yourself to how posting on social media can be a bit like panhandling. I enjoy your poems and you may take the thought anywhere you'd like. I'm not writing creatively these days so help yourself.

I often think about how communities seem to be created spontaneously under so many circumstances. I'm undecided how healthy this is because a group can easily turn into an angry mob or turn against one another. I tend to stay on the outskirts of these gatherings (either within my own little ghetto where I live or on-line) although I too desire to be a part of a community. I'm not immune to wanting to be accepted in to the club, but like Groucho said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member".

Be well.

hello again, and thank you to the nice people here. i can't concentrate on anything at the moment but after i come out from the dentist tomorrow i should be better. i am having a 'root filling' it is called. i think there are either three or four roots to the tooth, but i can't think of anything until after that's done. it keeps playing on my mind all the time, spoils the whole day, spoils all the days leading up to it. i don't think it's going to hurt at all, or at least not very much. she said it's not going to hurt, anyway - but that's not the problem. it's very difficult to explain to anyone who's never had a phobia of any kind. when i walk out of the clinic tomorrow it will be like a ton of bricks has been lifted off me. when a person with dental phobia gets their appointment it's usually some weeks away, but as it gets closer the fear gets bigger - it's like an unstoppable steam-roller gradually heading straight for you and your feet are stuck to the asphalt, and there's not a soul in the world who can come to your assistance. i can imagine that is probably what hell is like, if there is such a place. maybe we are all in hell right now here this very day and don't realise it. constant threats all the time, sicknesses and viruses that scare us, meteorites that can smash into the earth and wipe us out, aggressive countries building nuclear bombs, religious fanatics and terrorists cutting peoples' heads off and spreading over the world - it's truly a horrible place. the brutal reality is that we are caught in the mother of all nightmares and i can't see any hope. she said she's not going to give me any anaesthetic because the nerve is already dead, but tomorrow i am going to insist that she gives me anaesthetic, i am going to demand it. i'll tell her i'll pay extra if she gives it to me.

Yes. Tell the dentist you must be numb for the procedure and maybe a bit of nitrous oxide too. She wants to save that tooth, so that's good.

I understand the anxiety. It's almost impossible to control. Once it's over you'll be good to go. Let us know how it goes.

(I'm using this thread as a chat. I shouldn't be doing that. I'll stop before the moderators get me!)

dar wrote:Yes. Tell the dentist you must be numb for the procedure and maybe a bit of nitrous oxide too. She wants to save that tooth, so that's good.

I understand the anxiety. It's almost impossible to control. Once it's over you'll be good to go. Let us know how it goes.

(I'm using this thread as a chat. I shouldn't be doing that. I'll stop before the moderators get me!)

i saw this message come in, dar - because i have been studying those symbols on the left. i thought it might be a good idea to try to get my mind off tomorrow's appointment. there are loads of different symbols, some are red, some blue, some have tiny scrolling text that you can't read, others with the text standing still. some have red stars, others don't. some are shaped like light bulbs and others have a lady's handbag in the middle. why doesn't jarkko tell anybody what they stand for? yes, i am going to tell the dentist lady i want the gum numb. she knows i prefer anaesthetic because even when i see her preparing the needle i say i would like to have double amount and she says it is double but sometimes i wonder. she talks to me about current affairs and the family and stuff to take my mind off what she's doing. i know what her game is but i play along and politely nod or gurgle because i can't speak when she's working. you know i haven't painted a single portrait for a week now because of all this. when i got up today i put my left leg in my trousers first instead of my right because i am trying to break this routine of doing exactly the same every day. jesus knows i don't mean it when i say bad things about him, i am pretty sure he understands that. i take a small pocket bible with me in my inside pocket and the dentist doesn't see it. all i want is just for somebody to tell me everything's going to be all right.

Everything is going to be all right.

everything's going to be all right.