Tag: social commentary

Living on the Streets

Poem & photos by Elizabeth
LIVING ON THE STREETS

I never chose to be here
Amid concrete and cheap booze—
I’d sooner die but bodies carry on for years.

I hear the wailing ricochet of children
Held within this hell of rolling veins.
No, they never, never chose to be here.

Limbs stiffened from cold sidewalks trap me 
As pustules grow and lice feed on my skin—
I’d sooner die but bodies carry on for years.

Violence is not televised on streets; instead, it jeers at battered
Skulls and broken bones—we’re easy prey for kids.
No, I never chose to be here.

Whiskey holds back cold and memories that leer of oboe played
Amidst the smoke, thighs wrapping mine through dawn.	
Now, I’d sooner die but bodies carry on for years.

With deafened ears and eyes averted, you comment on 
My stench as you dart into the restaurant;
I never chose to be here—
I’d sooner die but bodies carry on for years.

Thank you to the editors of Mediphors: A Literary Journal of the Health Professions for first publishing this poem.

To Think

photo by Elizabeth
A person doesn't need to go to college to learn facts.
He can get them from books. 
The value of a liberal arts college education is that
it trains the mind to think. That's something you 
can't learn from textbooks.
If a person (has the) ability, 
a college education helps develop it. 

Albert Einstein  
(from "Einstein: His Life and Times" by Philipp Frank)

Disconnected

photo by Elizabeth

Oxfam‘s January 14, 2024 report, Inequality Inc., explores the disparity between the uber-wealthy and the rest of society.

Since 2020, five billion people have become poorer, while the world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes—at a rate of $14 million per hour.

VOTE

photo by Elizabeth

This election is not about Harris, Trump or an individual issue. It’s about what the United States of America represents, for us and the world; how it provides for its citizens and the environment; how we care not only for the living and those who have sacrificed for this country, but also for those who will follow, which one could interpret in line with the Native American-Iroquois law: “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

This election is not about the next four years or a party; but instead, whether we choose that “all…are created equal…with certain unalienable rights…life, liberty and… happiness,” not merely as pursuit, but experienced (as described in this Emory U. article), or if we want something different for our nation.

Each vote matters, which is why so many have literally sacrificed or died to protect this right for every eligible citizen.

Grooming?

photo by Elizabeth

I used to paint and knit. Now I groom my healthy dog’s fast-growing hair. I trim at least a quarter cup of hair a day yet one would guess since it grows so fast!

So when I saw these short-haired shedding dogs, I laughed aloud that that Ziggy’s uses these images to advertise “GROOMING.”

A bath and maybe a nail trim is nothing in comparison with the hours I spend each week brushing and cutting hair.

Many. Hours.

Even having had large Collies and a Malemute did not prepare me for how time consuming this little 16 lb non-shedder could be. Though non-shed is a misnomer. She sheds, just like a person, very little. And her hair just keeps growing.

It grows thick and fast and doesn’t stop to ensure that her feet retain traction on the ground, but instead her paws mutate into large balls of fur. Without a severe trim at least once a week, her winter-rabbit paws are so slick with hair that she’ll slip and slide as if our floors are ice. Which leads to injury just like when people run on ice with slick bottomed shoes.

In other words, the dogs pictured do not warrant the term “grooming” any more than lounging in a hot tub is like riding a ten foot wave.