What it Means to Be Homeless

This poem is for and about my friend Richard.  It is part of a larger work I am deeply involved with (in collaboration with the photographer Michel Delsol), a new book entitled The Life and Times of Richard Musto.  You can follow the progress of my collaboration with Michel on our blog (richardmusto.blogspot.com ).  I'm not sure if this poem will end up as part of the finished work, but in the meantime, here is the first draft of what I just wrote:


What it Means to Be Homeless

Sorry but I forgot to mention

Something that Richard

Said to me

The other day

When Michel and I

Visited him

In Atlantic City

In the course of

Explaining to me 

What he found most

Objectionable in the

First two chapters

Of my book

Richard said

And I quote:

Although you seem to

Have a good vocabulary

I think you made

A serious mistake when

You described me

As a homeless man

Because in fact

Not just theory

Richard maintains he still owns

His mother’s former home

Out in Tottenville

Staten Island

Although long ago

Having defaulted on

Overdue taxes

The house was boarded up

And technically abandoned

Richard nonetheless believes he should still

Be considered the last owner of record

 

And if so

That would remain his legal residence

Notwithstanding wherever

His present domicile happens to be

Right down through the present day

  

So it seems we all

Poets and First Army vets alike

Should be careful

When we write or speak

Not to throw words around

Too loosely

Considering the emotional

As well as the legal import

Of the things we say 

Particularly when

It is the human heart

About which

We’re speaking