The poet has just stumbled upon this piece ~ written, now, five years ago, and just as true today as it was then.

*****

Recorded Reading (2:01): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dwskd3nx9hs3l0uz5geuj/A-Place-in-the-Sun.mp3?rlkey=rwhir7sytq1xho4mwff1pa3ht&dl=0

*****

A Place in the Sun

If I could have a single wish
Other than to be
A widely perused poet
Of respectability

I’d wish for something small
Only just for what I need
A little plot but ten feet square
Would be sufficient mead

To put upon and live within
A tiny one room shed
Just space enough for clothing, stove
And a narrow little bed

I’d cut and hinge a window
To let the sun come streaming in
A window which I then could lock
To safely shut within

Beloved necessary things
To move from day to day in life
Away from endless media
Away from ceaseless strife

Of those who find peace boring
And see in sweet tranquility
Naught but the lack of stimulus
To which they so accustomed be

Who twenty thousand murders each
Have witnessed ‘ere they graduate
From high school ~ beatings, tortures, rape
In numbers no one can relate ~

All in the name sweet leisure of,
The entertainment they
Select to be the pleasure
With which they end each day!

I know from long experience
How beautiful that shed would be
Given a little loving work
Even in poverty

As with all my other homes
Even the humblest
Guests pause upon the threshold
So charmed they are confesst

Freed from need to e’er explain
Personal prioritiy
Created by my calling
Matter not unique it be

I know as well how very clean
And orderly I’d make and keep
That precious little haven
The thought of it can make me weep

Imagining sweet silence
My Muses would be waiting in
As I each blessed, peaceful day
Prepare me to begin

*****

Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

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