Poverty Stories

"Baby? You awake? Wanna date?" The car had pulled up and awakened the boy, crunching on the gravel road. It wasn't the first time. He reached under and made sure the ax was under the couch where he slept at night. Keeping it there felt safer. His mother whispered through the front door, "It's after three. You'll wake the kids."  They were always drunk. They'd leave at last. This one pounded on the porch door.  Mother argu...

Two dimes and a penny were all that’s left of me. I couldn’t buy a heated meal; I couldn’t pay the fee. The average man doesn’t give a damn.  Since luxury is his norm. He curses me under his breath. While I sit out the storm. I sit and shiver endlessly in clothes so badly worn. I shroud myself, as best I can in blankets stained and torn. His pittance is my treasure. My gratitude ignored. I curse him when he tells me That’...

My first crush was a fat boyHe had beautiful green eyesHe played the pianoHe is gay - of course, he isBut I think that's part of why I loved himHe didn't need anything from meNot enough to behave badly.My heart squiggles around nervously in my chestEvery time the phone ringsDid some creep get my number and want to harass me?Is some bill overdue?Does my boss want me to work today?No, it's just a silly little telemarketerTr...

he got shot in the back on his way out the door with the loaf of bread he had stolen but outside he turned around falling to the ground the blood oozed out his mouth and wetted his coat from the wound in the back on top of the ice the melted snow out he had run of unemployment two weeks ago had applied for a over a hundred jobs the last two months but lost because the college kids and the elderly were there too for the wo...

Zubaidah was only 14 the first time she was laid. There was no emotion, just placid motions of the old in out, and before she knew it, she was no longer a virgin. It was all business. She hung around with the hoodrats and drug peddlers of Tiong Bahru, talking in adult tones, way too vulgar for a girl her age. With nothing else to do, they sat around, shot marbles and complained about life. A man would come up to her, name...

Looking at old pictures back when we was kids,Ragamuffins looking like we was on greased skids. Clothes, most of the time, was hand me downs,Making us all look like impoverished clowns. I don't ever remember looking at us that way!To me it was just how we lived every day! Poor as church mice, never lived in a castle. Houses so small they were often a hassle. Having to share a bed just seemed to be the norm.Snuggling with...