Portside

Swags **                                                                                 
By Joyce Parkes

Jon loves to walk in all kinds of weather, so
does Jen. Jon prefers a drop of empathy to
a shower of advice, so does Jen. Jon thinks

bullies belong to the days Dickens wrote of.
Jen concurs. Jon likes to have a cup of coffee
every day, in a café in the city. Jen has tea.

They heard of more than a 105,000 people in
Australia sleeping in the open, even in winter.
Jon and Jen purchase a swag from Swags for

Homeless, asking kin and kindreds to so do.
Jon and Jen also write, asking to provide
the homeless with a room, and a kitchenette

to make soup, boil water. Jon and Jen urge
architects, drafts people, engineers to design,
draw and build shelters — house the forlorn.   

** Definition of a swag: a bundle or roll, in Australia and New Zealand, according to Australia's national dictionary (the Macquarie) is a bundle or roll carried across the shoulders or otherwise and containing the bedding and personal belongings of a traveller through the bush. The word has been adapted, adopted even, to describe the bedding of a homeless person in Australia. At night, they unfurl their swag--for the ones lucky enough to have one--to sleep with a modicum of warmth. In such a wealthy country like Australia it is unconscionable to have homeless people.

Joyce Parkes is published in such publications as Overland, Westerly, The Canberra Times, Linq, Axon, Cordite in Australia and in similar publications in the U.K., Finland, Canada, Germany, the U.S., New Zealand, Greece, Northern Ireland, and the Netherlands.