"Street People of Santa Barbara" - from Rhymes Lost to Reason: The poetry of Peter Elyakim Taussig

Street People of Santa Barbara

St. Barbara wrapped in a Versace habit

Steps out of her Bentley and over

The human wreck sprawled on the pavement

In front of the Saks Fifth Avenue shrine

On her way to morning Mass, intent on

Bestowing yet more of her heavenly

Divorce settlement on Christian Dior, as

The cloud of Givenchy she wafts on collides

With the piss stench of the homeless man

And the heel of her Prada accidentally

Gets snared in his satchel,

Breaks off,

And trips her,

So she finds herself sprawled across him,

Forming the sign of our Savior.

Just another day in Santa Barbara, California

The city of aimless pilgrims.