Homeless
His
sign said it was his birthday
and
he was sitting at the bottom of the steps.
I
had seen him before
and
he was always kind
as
I dropped a dollar into his cup.
The
train hissed and sighed and rumbled into the tunnel.
Happy
Birthday, I said.
and
he thanked me.
It’s
also Mary Shelley’s birthday
I
added
She
wrote Frankenstein
and
he looked at me and smiled
and
said,
I
know.
It’s
one of my favorite movies
and
I smiled and
I
wished him a good day
and
climbed the steps of the subway
reaching
the light
after
so much darkness in the tunnel
and
wondered
why
why
are we so cruel to each other?
--Ally Malinenko
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