in orchard, an old lady

on a sidewalk along orchard road
sits an old lady, bent over
selling her pocket tissues
amidst hundreds of scurrying feet
of the well-heeled
walking around her
not looking
not buying

one cruel, insensitive cad
calls her
a nuisance
a blight on orchard road

“i need to live
i sell to live
to feed me
what can I do”

“what’s a dollar for my tissues
when you spend hundreds
on your shoes and dresses”

“don’t forget
while you walk shop eat in orchard
while you freely spend dollars
we, poor
still need to live
and eat
and earn cents”

beneath the sodden glitter of the city
the forgotten poor lives
and struggles
to live