Setting Up Shop

“Daylight Hours”

Across misty blue skies, I look overhead to see jet trails.
People are going somewhere, anywhere but not stopping here.
I set up shop along the roadside by Wal-Mart.

Constant traffic passes like a parade ~
all sorts and sizes: minivans, SUVs, trucks, and compacts.
Each car in a single lane stopping straight across from me at the stop sign intersection.

I hold my private court one-by-one in broad daylight.
They look straight at me with invisible eyes.
Joe says, “You know, people feel better when they can do something nice for someone.”

Roadside Joe offers me a place to stay today.
We move from place to place, setting up shop at new way stations
littered with roadside plastic sacks and asphalt cracks.

Found among fence rows along common roadside signs.
What if I make my own hand-made cardboard sign, neat and easy to read?
hoping I spell the words right: “Scared, pregnant, need money for rent.”

I stare back and look away, keeping my brown eyes down.
I face these strangers with backward glances.
I can’t see their eyes. I wonder if they see mine.

Will they give me money or make me listen to why they can’t pay?
Sitting up partially, I try to decide whether to walk over to the car.
A teenage driver who laughs and quickly pulls away ~ “Damn, what a jerk!”

No hits for over an hour, I need a break.
My car is in the parking lot
I can check on my kid and have a smoke.

What if I learn to play this game?
Walking over the ledge . . .
I simply go from one day to the next, begging for granted treasures.

Looking up again to see a half-moon rising,
nodding in agreement, one-half here and one-half not,
and praying out loud, “Doesn’t really matter ~it’s just like me!”

These roadside signs during daylight and half-moon hours. . . I hope my daughter never knows!