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Description
Disgusting,
The man who spits on the ground,
hair knotted back
and flakes clinging to the slippery strands,
who is robed in a hand-me-down,
face buried under a hunched back
and feet glued to the cement
as he shuffles along the sidewalk,
breaking his mother's back.

Disgusting,
This man, hindering the crowd,
a son to someone
but father to none.
In one hand, a bottle.
In the other, his jacket, held tight across his chest,
struggling for warmth
as the cold pushes against him
nearing him to stillness.

Disgusting,
A man who once held hands
At family dinners,
and prayed for acceptance,
whose closest friend sat across the tablecloth
grazing his feet beneath,
whose friend then stood, mouth agape,
words falling like snow
but turned ash as they met the centerpiece.

Disgusting,
The man who turns down the alleyway,
home on a blanket
with snow fighting the barrel.
He slumps against the wall,
to live under his bottle
and spits once more to the sidewalk,
where another man stopped to watch,
growling with disgust.

Disgusting,
The man who steps in spit
and hurries home to sit under his heater,
a man stopped by a beggar.
A poet, just hurrying home
Inspired by a feeling of disgust
As he trudged behind the beggar,
too passive to move past,
and too naïve to smile.

Disgusting,
The poet at home
who writes about the beggar
in all his misery,
who he names Abomination.
Disgusting,
The poet
who knows not why.