The Real Haunted House

It's One Block Over

A rundown room
Unkempt beds
Iron and rust
A haunted house

In a forgotten tract
Where nobody goes
Ghosts are inside
As are the dead

A block over either direction
Estates and private security
Awards shows and celebrities
Richest of the rich

Don’t come near this property
Or the many just like it
Tourists ignore it
Unless it’s a ghost tour

See how elite it once was
Poverty porn now
Count your blessings you’re not a ghost
Or in a tent inside or out

Developers want condos
Resale value poor
Brings down real estate
Of award show theaters

Some ghosts inside are alive
Down on their luck
Lost in dependencies
No way to make a living

Handouts don’t seem to help
Programs don’t help enough
Some make it out
The exceptional ghosts

Ghosts don’t just haunt rundown tracts

I have ghosts too
Parts within me are dead
But I’m still alive
And weep for what’s gone

My brother would roll over
In his grave, twice
If he saw the ghost
His addiction made him today

Many others ghosts can relate
”Bums,” “hobos,” “junkies,” “addicts”
Labels and names thrown their way
These people don’t have beds now

They use tents
Or old iron in abandoned buildings
Next to the richest in the world
Where their haunted house
Scares away many
But keeps them safe(r)

Until the developers
And city organizers
Demo that haunted house
Now the ghosts are on the street
Scaring people away
As they die more themselves In front of you

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This piece was written in response to the visual prompt I gave below:

I’m HVR. I started writing in July.

It was on my phone with my thumbs.

I was published in September.

This note tells how I came to write.

Buy my book. Don’t be lame.

If you’re into that kind of thing, look at the pay sub options or you could

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