I wrote these around 1993 when I had a shirt-and-tie job right next to Hollywood & Vine in Los Angeles. I did actually approach a local homeless man by Sunset & Ivar and offered him a suitably-lettered placard, foolishly still wearing my office clothes, and he wasn't interested. I put them online in 1996 in the usegroup rec.arts.poems. The selfie I shot in 1999.
On Hollywood Boulevard, as I strode by
Some hard-luck stories caught my eye
'Twould better be, thought I, if they
Did something for the funds we pay
So I gave the vagrants signs like these
But 'twas just like pissing in the breeze ...
MosT day's i do backflip's
oR kaRtweel's on THe go
Today i geT a well eRned ResT
you can pay foR yesTerdays sHow
you MiTe THink iM a lazy dog
in suM way's THaT is TRue
buT duMsTeR divings reel HaRd woRk
is iT suMTHing you would do?
next week iM Taking MasTRcaRd
discovR and visa To
but since THey closd my swiss acounT
Today a quaRTeR will do
iM noT jusT a deadbeeT
living in THe TRasH
iM a lowlife enTeRTainR
Now,How about suM cash?
you pRobally neveR give a diMe
Too guy's on THe sTReeT like Me
well jusT have a nice day youRself you HeRe
foR you THe sHow is fRee
i MiTe look aweful sick
and i MiTe sMell aweful bad
but ive economic independens
and foR THaT iM glad