Peggy Hale Bilbro

Detritus

He is sitting at the bus stop when we arrive. All his belongings in a tattered backpack and a bulging plastic shopping cart. Gray scraggly beard at least 5 inches long and overgrown tangled hair. But I notice his narrow musician’s fingers and see that he is meticulously flossing his teeth. When offered a handful of euros, he brusquely refuses them. What is his story? How did he end up this way? Where does he sleep? Who is there that would love and care for him? So many questions without answers. I can’t get him out of my mind.

another autumn
leaves rustle restlessly
along the gutter
slowly broomed away
by the street cleaner

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About the Author

Peggy Hale Bilbro and her husband divide their time between Huntsville, Alabama, and Guardia Sanframondi, Italy. Her poetry reflects her life-long interest in the large and small miracles of the world, from dust bunnies to stardust, from mouse holes to black holes. She finds pleasure in the creative challenge of translating those miracles into poetry.