News from Niman Farm: Section XI

A Streetperson crying. It's a 
lady with a terrible pain. She's yelling
over and over that
"Nobody's cares."

"Nobody Cares."

Nobody cares.
She's right I guess.
Nobody cares about anything except her,
cause she's got a shopping cart full of garbage.
Let the good times roll.

And a policeman's comforting a
lost little girl. He's holding her
against his big blue chest
while his partner calls headquarters.

It's terrible, but there's nothing
they can do to help her.
It's like the Cairo Bazaar here
on Telegraph this afternoon. "Maybe that's why
the lady was screaming.
She was sad about the kid,"
David Henderson is saying.
We're sliding between odd-lot
sandal vendors, stained-glass
window-makers, and people who fashion
jewelry out of spoons.
"Maybe so," I say, worried, believing,
hurrying in for coffee at the Mediterranean.

Copyright Credit: Lewis MacAdams, "News from Niman Farm: Section XI" from Dear Oxygen: New & Selected Poems 1966-2011.  Copyright © 2011 by Lewis MacAdams.   Reprinted by permission of Natalia & Torii MacAdams.
Source: Dear Oxygen: New & Selected Poems 1966-2011 (University of New Orleans, 2011)