Kerri Shying R #579 - half way home

Half way home

there's a halfway house
on one corner in my street

people think
it's a home
for the vegetative
old folk

watch the OzHarvest van
pull up   unload
talk in shocked tones

I don't reveal the truth
think    others are the same

in summer the curtains tie in knots
behind       the front-door mesh
hammered on the windows

and once on the bus
I made my son    loan
a guy a dollar-fifty
when he asked me
saying Miss
that's old ink     I whispered
show respect

but nobody     calls me Miss
not unlocked
  not these days