I feel free
Poem written by Ashley Grant, for an assignment in a documentary photojournalism class at California State University, Northridge, 2014.
Here I sit beside you
With dirty palms and withered clothes.
This bench that we both share is small,
For that I am sorry.
I have no where else to reside, but here.
Or beneath the freeway across town.
I am homeless, yes that’s true
But you should respect me, as I will respect you.
I was wealthy once before.
College educated and happily married
I thought I had the world all figured out.
But life hits you hard
And you can be thrown off your path.
Before I knew it, 30 years at a large company
Had disappeared and I was pushed to the side.
No warning, no back up plan.
There were no drugs or alcohol to blame
I just was a simple man trying to survive.
Bills soon consumed me and
My wife and I began to fight almost every second of the day.
Life was almost unbearable.
I was in a constant uphill battle with myself.
Although I had all the qualifications, jobs were scarce.
With no money coming in I knew my life would further change.
My home was taken by the IRS and my wife soon left me after.
She needed more she said.
I wanted that for her.
With nothing to hold onto
I allowed myself to be taken by the streets.
Six years have come and gone,
And I sit beside you now.
Money is a hell of a thing.
It can allow you to have it all
or in the end leave you high and dry.
I am homeless, yes that’s true.
But I am alive and although I now have nothing,
Only that cart across the way.
Somehow I feel like I’m better off that way.

