Haste Makes Waste

Third Semi-Annual Poetry Dump

02 February 2023

I wrote these while out of town to help care for my partner, during her FFS recovery.

Inspired by the nakedly visible income inequality of downtown San Francisco; I never want to forget the sickness that I felt that day.

The system we live in is truly rotten. And the most horrifying part is that we can all treat it as normal.


Asset Protection

A pair of socks

in a spider-wrapped lockbox.

More dignity afforded to the K-9

than the man lying

in an alcove

who could use them.

Two cops flank the doors

of the Apple Store.

A sign says:

“This area under video surveillance”,

and I believe it.


Nothing Personal

Discarded needles

lay on the sidewalk

underneath the feet

of busy shoppers.

No time to read signs

scrawled on damp cardboard

from salvaged boxes.

Check your phones instead.