Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning

City workers
In orange vests
Move through the trees
That are just starting to flower
Cleaning up what remains
Of a campsite,
The home of homeless men
And homeless women.
Who have lived
On this hill side
Next to the highway
Through a long winter
Of rain and snow.

But spring is coming
Soon wealthier people
From up the hill
Will use this greenbelt
To run and hike and walk their babies.

The city fathers
Is wise enough to know
That homeless people camping in the trees
Will cause complaint
And get negative media attention
So the police have come
In the middle of the night
And told the campers
To move on.

City workers
In orange vests
Move through the trees
There are elections at stake
And property values
And the delicate
Sensibilities
Of young upwardly mobile types
Who think that
If they stop eating meat
And stop using plastic bags
They can change the world.