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This is another experimental, fragmentary piece that's mostly free-verse, but which occasionally, by-chance brushes against structure. It comes from a few fragments of earlier this just-past summer (2024), when I was re-acquainting myself with what it feels like to live in a house with no air conditioning, in the hottest, stickiest part of Canadian summer.
It certainly makes one appreciate it a great deal more, along with the realisation just how spoiled we are, to have many modern conveniences such as A-C, and modern bathrooms. It also made me think (indeed, how could it not), of those, who aren't so lucky.
In my own case: Other than a few (usually thankfully brief) periods in my life, where my housing situation was shaky and/or in flux (such as my recent period of marginal housing in the midst of the COVID lockdowns), I have never been truly "on the street" homeless. Closest I ever came was my first semester of undergrad, where my financial situation was very, very tough, and I had to sleep in my car for a few weeks until I was able to secure affordable housing.
Plenty of articles I've read have said that one of the biggest complaints that many homeless have is in just how difficult it can sometimes be to find ways of keep themselves and their clothes clean.
So yes, in the face of such realities that many people have to go through, I do grok that some folks might take this piece as petty and meaningless grousing on my part (as well as coming from a Place of Privilege). My only counter to that, is that even in the midst of my own discomfort, I was fully aware that many have it far far worse on a daily basis, and perhaps it was a good "Teaching Moment"® to give me some small sliver of understanding that it could be far, far worse. The old cliché about "There, but for the Grace of G-d go I."
(thumbnail photo Aug 2024 by KNorth Photography, Meaford, Ontario)
It certainly makes one appreciate it a great deal more, along with the realisation just how spoiled we are, to have many modern conveniences such as A-C, and modern bathrooms. It also made me think (indeed, how could it not), of those, who aren't so lucky.
In my own case: Other than a few (usually thankfully brief) periods in my life, where my housing situation was shaky and/or in flux (such as my recent period of marginal housing in the midst of the COVID lockdowns), I have never been truly "on the street" homeless. Closest I ever came was my first semester of undergrad, where my financial situation was very, very tough, and I had to sleep in my car for a few weeks until I was able to secure affordable housing.
Plenty of articles I've read have said that one of the biggest complaints that many homeless have is in just how difficult it can sometimes be to find ways of keep themselves and their clothes clean.
So yes, in the face of such realities that many people have to go through, I do grok that some folks might take this piece as petty and meaningless grousing on my part (as well as coming from a Place of Privilege). My only counter to that, is that even in the midst of my own discomfort, I was fully aware that many have it far far worse on a daily basis, and perhaps it was a good "Teaching Moment"® to give me some small sliver of understanding that it could be far, far worse. The old cliché about "There, but for the Grace of G-d go I."
(thumbnail photo Aug 2024 by KNorth Photography, Meaford, Ontario)
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