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paper cup
Posted: 23 May 2004
Word Count: 46
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I only need two pounds to get home
I sit and count the pennies that they throw.
They throw loose change and their smiles
Its their lies that I despise
Pretend I’m not for real.
“I haven’t got any change, sorry”
pretend that I don’t feel.
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Comments by other Members
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 miffle at 23:23 on 23 May 2004
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That there are barriers between people is very sad - and you express this simply, effectively, strongly here, especially through your repetitions of 'I' and 'they'...
I find 'throw' sad here - as opposed to give which contributes to the sense of worthlessness expressed in the poem.
Actually, I think that sometimes people just do not know how to react - (?) i.e. there are so many people begging / sleeping rough on the streets that one human being does not have the resources to stop/ talk/ give to everyone that they meet.
This, I think to be one of the reasons that a person may walk by but it does not mean to say that they have not already given - there is so much 'need' in this world, ultimately, I think people must chose to whom they give and where to invest their energies. And if everyone did that then I think that things would be better.
Re. feeling unacknowleged/ invisible I remember seeing a run of portraits (I think in the Guardian/ Independent) once of 'homeless' people. What was interesting was that each person was photographed with something that was precious to them and none of them were photographed on the street. I thought of these as ground-breaking photographs at the time. The photos gave people their dignity - and each one portrayed a unique individual.
An emotive issue. Miffle
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roovacrag at 18:41 on 24 May 2004
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welldone. I'm one does put a penny in the pot.
Buy soup for,cup of tea.
I would hate to see my child go there.
Well done.
xx Alice
<Added>
My son used to buy a bacon butty at 6am for one of them and said i got too much.
they came friends.
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The Walrus at 18:53 on 24 May 2004
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Unfortunately, one of those everyday situations that we have become anaethetised(sp) to... it's a pretty controversial subject, one side of it I think you've conveyed very effectively. Interesting piece.
The Walrus
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Sazmac at 12:25 on 29 May 2004
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I liked the throw of a smile - the throw awayness of their kindness. Also I like the contrast in sense of time, someone sitting there, being still, waiting, counting, having all the time, whereas the passers by are fleeting, as fast as they can really. Great image.
I also loved the rhthym of the repetition in the last three lines - like a mantra contrasting between the sitter and the passer by, could be repeated over and over through the day....
thanks,
saz
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BorderBound at 13:22 on 29 May 2004
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I was once caught without money in central london and had lost my ticket... i was SHOCKED when i was told, that even though it was amost midnight and trains would stop running soon - that the police could do nothing, that NOT ONE PERSON would lend me money and ... at the end of the day,
a man selling big issue lent me a pound,
these people are good.
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