{"id":69,"date":"2015-04-01T05:27:24","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T05:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sylviaarthur.com\/poemswithpictures.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2026-04-09T03:44:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T03:44:42","slug":"suite-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"Suite Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Poem<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem seems to lament the hopelessness of life on the streets for homeless people. Our poet, Sue worked in a\u00a0social services\u00a0job later in her life. She had a soft spot for people who were down on their luck and needed help. She always offered to help, but some of them didn\u2019t want any help. I think some of the disappointment expressed in this poem is about trying to help, but the effort is defeated.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Picture<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have always felt empathy towards street people too. I find them to be interesting; real people. I wonder about their circumstances and how they got to where they are. I\u2019m drawn to drawing them. This month I painted two pictures on cardboard, the building material of makeshift shelters; \u201don the streets, in their cardboard suites<\/em>\u201d. On the street when we see them, we often look down, trying to avoid looking in their eyes. I wanted to capture the humanity of homeless people and look at them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suite Street <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such a cold,<\/p>\n

cold<\/p>\n

city<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

disgrace<\/p>\n

how they live<\/p>\n

(tortured) eyes empty<\/p>\n

(tortured) hearts empty<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

fear<\/p>\n

nothing to rely on<\/p>\n

did they know,<\/p>\n

no.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

did I know,<\/p>\n

no.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am here unseen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

central<\/p>\n

In this city<\/p>\n

Gone\u2026<\/p>\n

Will anyone know I\u2019ve ever been?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thousands the same<\/p>\n

one<\/p>\n

the same?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of \u201cbelieve in\u201d<\/p>\n

on the streets<\/p>\n

In their cardboard suites<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

some live just for the words<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

their \u201cagony of defeat\u201d<\/p>\n

my agony of defeat?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

all stories, their stories<\/p>\n

same<\/p>\n

all for none.<\/p>\n

no give and take<\/p>\n

egocentricity;<\/p>\n

ego<\/p>\n

centre<\/p>\n

I<\/p>\n

city.<\/p>\n

how could they see?<\/p>\n

how have I?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By: Sue Michaud<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ink and acrylic painting on cardboard, “Homeless” \u00a0By: Sylvia Arthur\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ink and acrylic painting on cardboard, “Begger” \u00a0By: Sylvia Arthur\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Poem This poem seems to lament the hopelessness of life on the streets for homeless people. Our poet, Sue worked in a\u00a0social services\u00a0job later in her life. She had a soft spot for people who were down on their luck and needed help. She always offered to help, but some of them didn\u2019t want […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poemswithpictures.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}