Poet or Panhandler?

 

So i started out as a clown/panhandler back in 2012 in Washington DC, when i got laid off. I’d spent 20 years as a circus clown, then worked in an office. Then got laid off. So out of desperation i put on my clown makeup and outfit and scripted a crude sign on poster paper that read:


UNEMPLOYED CIRCUS CLOWN.

PLEASE PUT ME IN THE WHITE HOUSE WHERE I BELONG!

(Photos Welcome.)


I made about sixty bucks a day. Only hassled by the Capitol Hill cops once. Tourists disgorged from their tour buses to snap my photo by the hundreds.


Fast forward to 2023. Living in Provo Utah. i’d been writing limericks and haiku and posting it on social media, where it caught the eye of a local TV news reporter. He did a piece on my work. Then my wife Amy got the idea I should advertise out on the street. So i did. Got a few assignments. Then AI took over the writing of poetry. (And if you don’t believe me, well . . . time will tell.)

So i decided to write an original poem every day, put it on a white board, and take it downtown Provo to see what would happen.  Plenty did.  Sitting in front of the kolache bakery on Center Street i got lots of compliments and some smears. And since I put a bowl out, I got some spare change. And always interesting interactions. Because people can’t decide what i am – a panhandler or a poet. 

Just this past week i was given a pair of winter gloves. A pair of wool socks. Several personal hygiene bags. The stub of a pencil from a man just released from the county jail (he said.) i was told where to go to apply for social security. A young man handed me a Book of Mormon, with a five dollar bill tucked into it.  And, of course, dozens of free kolaches. Both sweet and savory.

This is my story, as of right now. It’s a pleasant way for an old guy like me to pass the time. I meet people, write something original each day, answer dumb questions like “what is your favorite poem?” or “who is your favorite poet?”  i even had bizness cards printed up, reading Poet for Hire, which I pass out to those interested.

Now you tell me – is this something ChatGPT can make up or is it original?

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