John D Robinson

WE ALL KNEW

 All of us knew

 that he was 65

 years old

 with a dozen or

 more screws in

 his lower spine

 and hands like

 arthritic claws and

 that he was

 street-homeless;

 we all knew this

 and did nothing

 as he hobbled

 away into the

 freezing rain to

 go live back on

 the streets,

 all of us knew this

 and we did nothing

 because a policy

 stated we should

 do so; he didn’t

 meet an invented

 criteria of need

 and we watched him

 walking away

 we all knew

 and felt fucking

 useless because

 some stuffed asshole

 somewhere, being

 paid handsomely,

 made some

 decisions, not

 knowing of anything

 outside of a

 precious fucking

 budget;

 we all knew

 and when he was out

 of sight

 we all knew

 that he’d still

 be here

 right with us.

John D Robinson was born in 63 in the UK; his work has appeared widely in the small press and online literary publications; Bare back Lit; Red Fez; Bold Maonkey; Your One Phone Call; Yellow Mama; he is married with 1 daughter, 2 grandchildren, 3 cats, 1 dog and he likes to drink wine and stare into space.