(98) Brother, Can You Spare A Minute?

Hello my brother
Can you spare a moment?
So glad to see you

I've been down on my luck
Living in this alley these days
Always a meal or two in the trash

So how have you been keeping?
Good to hear about the wife and kids
I understand you don't want me visiting

Oh, you want to know about Mary?
She left me a couple years ago
My own fault, too much work

The job took away all my time
Mary was feeling a little rejected
So she found herself another lover

But the job decided to let me go
I kind of allowed myself to go to Hell
So I found myself without a job or home

Yeah I heard about little brother Billy
He joined the army and went off to fight
I miss him, I wish i went to the funeral

Oh, have you really got to go?
Yeah, I know it's been good to talk
My brother, you are always a busy man

Don't be a stranger now, visit soon
I am always living in this alley, here
Always here, drinking my bottle of rye



copyright Chris Smith 2010       

Reviews

[ice]

The complexity of life in a simple poem.
Or is it not simple at all, but complexity explained in a easily understood way..? Here lies the true skill of a poet. Here lies the skill of Chris Smith.
In nine short stanzas he writes an epic poem;
The compaction of years of bad choices,and the sorrow it wrought- in just a few lines.

[Zeitgeist Manifesto]

There are many questions this poem inspires about what set up the entire scenario, but you did a wonderful job of capturing our attention and just inspiring us to live in the moment. The story was heartbreaking....but written with a hand heavy with empathy. It calls for us all to evaluate the relationships in our lives.

[emmajoy]

Oh my, this is tragic and brilliant. finely phrased and more. Most of all it says truth in the gentlest of tones, yet hits home with a wallop.

' Don't be a stranger now, visit soon
I am always living in this alley, here
Always here, drinking my bottle of rye ' .. .. .. heart-breaking.

Nothing less than superb .. people should read this over and over, then weep, feeling their own pathetic guilt.

[Lily Mae]

This is sad but I think it pulls at our heartstrings because it is so true.. It reminds me of a song and I can't think of it.. James Taylor maybe about a father and a son...hmm either way.. you did a great job with this Chris as always..:) x

[Amy Bumpas]

This is deeply sad, and reality is that the homeless are everywhere.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

The places mankind ends up and how we think we could never end up there but are actually only one second away.......excellent my friend

[FJ Davis]

This unfortunate man was given so little time--or, anything else, for that matter--by his own brother. Profoundly tragic, Chris. Just heartrending.
An extremely well-written, truly significant piece.