down at the shelter

she works at the shelter,
the carpenter's
shelter
on the outskirts
of town. She volunteers
despite her
busy life. It's
where the mall used to be,
before the mall
became extinct.
it's where sear's sold
tires,
where penny's sold dresses
and shoes, but now
there's beds,
bunks, cots and tents,
hot food
in the long line
for those who can eat,
or want to.
the bearded, the bedeviled,
the toothless.
pregnant and tattooed,
some escaping the past,
some escaping
the future.
it's a circus
of the bewildered,
the luckless,
the miscast.
it's frightening to think
that all of us
are a left turn
away from being right there
with them.