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Shelter

"They either go into shelters or they die"
he said matter-of-factly
walking in the other direction
and I shuddered
at hearing myself positioned in such a way
one inch away from homelessness
two from death.

And I think
that only decidedly mild-mannered men
when faced with a parking ticket
slam their coffee to the ground
only to have the scalding liquid
freeze into a solid block of ice.

(Dec 8, 2001)


© Katherine Maheux, 2003.