May 1, 2025
Photo by serikbaib
frayed edges
of your bulging backpack
remind me that the perimeter
of my world is larger than yours
on the street
we sit together
share a meal
a roof above
tell me the story
of your dead daughter
absent sons and eviction
read me your memoir
of life without work
or shelter, or meds
smudge the pencil-mark borders
erase the margins of difference
excise the space between us:
light-years of travel from
your birth home to mine
white-out my privilege
erase my margins of indifference.
May 2025
Patricia Joslin is a poet living in Charlotte, N.C. Her first collection, I’ll Buy Flowers Again Tomorrow: Poems of Loss and Healing, was published in 2023. Her poems have appeared in a variety of publications. Patricia is a former educator and now an active volunteer in the community working to address issues of homelessness. Website: patriciajoslin.com.
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