Photo Of The Homeless Man

Photo Of The Homeless Man
© Surazeus
2018 08 06

Patting his rolled coat into a flat pillow,
Carl wraps himself in green plastic trash bag
then curls up to sleep in the vestibule
outside large glass doors of the mattress shop.

Lying on hard ceramic tiles, wet from rain
that drizzles flashing gold past the street lamp,
Carl massages his sore feet and ignores
plush mattress and quilt inside empty shop.

Passing by to the new art gallery,
Vanessa stops and stares at the tableau
of the homeless man sleeping on hard tiles
outside locked doors of the soft mattress shop.

"This is the essence of capitalism,"
Vanessa whispers, then snaps photograph,
and hurries away before the man wakes,
though he sees her reflection in the glass.

Enlarging photo of the homeless man,
who sleeps wet outside the locked mattress shop,
Vanessa paints Capitalism on the top,
then mattes it inside shiny silver frame.

Standing next to her photo on display
on opening night at her latest show,
Vanessa talks about artistic vision
 responsible for highlighting social ills.

While art lovers write thousand-dollar checks
to purchase her important works of art,
the homeless man in her bright photograph
stands outside, hungry for crackers and cheese.

"That photo of the homeless man shows me,"
Carl explains to everyone walking by,
smiling when people give one-dollar bills,
then buys burger and coke at the gas station.