Homeless Man and the Park

by John Grey / October 26th, 2025

The park, all this greensward,
promised you heaven
but it’s a hell of a heaven indeed.
Pigeon droppings.
Smarmy kids.
Off-course Frisbees.
And a bitter wind
down from the north,
to scar and batter the homeless.
Night draws in,
you crawl up on the bench,
under a heap of newspapers.
Wars and rising unemployment,
murders and ball-park blowouts…
pleasant dreams.
Every so often,
a cop comes by,
shakes you awake,
moves you on.
And then the world moves on,
without you mostly.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, River And South and Dissident Voice. Latest books, Bittersweet, Subject Matters and Between Two Fires are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Paterson Literary Review, White Wall Review and Cantos. Read other articles by John.

This article was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.