September 6, 1990 | Mercury News, The (San Jose, CA)
Associated Press | Page: 2E | Section: California News
Some people see poetry on the mean streets of the city. Sometimes it's there -- literally.
The lives of 10 of San Francisco's homeless people have gone from bad to verse. They're still asking for money on street corners, but now they're selling copies of a poetry journal and keeping all the proceeds.
Street sales of "Poetry USA" promote the work of unknown poets and give the homeless vendors cash and -- according to them -- a greater sense of dignity. ''I feel better about myself. People can't look at me and say, 'He's just a homeless bum,' " said Eddie Wright, who used to panhandle before he began hawking the journal several times a week.
Wright said he has sold as many as 40 copies a day of the $1 magazine, enough for a night in a cut-rate hotel.
For Randy Moore, another street vendor, the earnings provide things most people take for granted but which he considers minor luxuries -- a good meal, clean clothes, a haircut.
''Poetry USA," published by the National Poetry Association, offers a mix of styles and themes by generally unknown poets. The poets aren't paid for their work but do get the valuable, if intangible, thrill of seeing their verse in print.
Some of the contributors are themselves homeless, and some poems describe the authors' difficult lives. A line in "Little or Nothing," in the journal's summer edition reads: "When one dies on the street, we all get burned."
For the publisher, the arrangement is good business as well as philanthropy. The loss in giving 2,000 copies to the homeless vendors and not taking any of the proceeds has been offset by the number of yearly $7.50 subscriptions new readers have sent back, according to Herman Berlandt, editor of "Poetry USA." Advocates for the homeless support the sales program even though they admit hawking poems will not provide big bank balances.
Representatives of The Coalition on Homelessness, which stores bundles of the journal for the vendors, said they passed out their last copies of "Poetry USA" and are now looking for other publishers interested in having publications distributed on the street.
Associated Press | Page: 2E | Section: California News
Some people see poetry on the mean streets of the city. Sometimes it's there -- literally.
The lives of 10 of San Francisco's homeless people have gone from bad to verse. They're still asking for money on street corners, but now they're selling copies of a poetry journal and keeping all the proceeds.
Street sales of "Poetry USA" promote the work of unknown poets and give the homeless vendors cash and -- according to them -- a greater sense of dignity. ''I feel better about myself. People can't look at me and say, 'He's just a homeless bum,' " said Eddie Wright, who used to panhandle before he began hawking the journal several times a week.
Wright said he has sold as many as 40 copies a day of the $1 magazine, enough for a night in a cut-rate hotel.
For Randy Moore, another street vendor, the earnings provide things most people take for granted but which he considers minor luxuries -- a good meal, clean clothes, a haircut.
''Poetry USA," published by the National Poetry Association, offers a mix of styles and themes by generally unknown poets. The poets aren't paid for their work but do get the valuable, if intangible, thrill of seeing their verse in print.
Some of the contributors are themselves homeless, and some poems describe the authors' difficult lives. A line in "Little or Nothing," in the journal's summer edition reads: "When one dies on the street, we all get burned."
For the publisher, the arrangement is good business as well as philanthropy. The loss in giving 2,000 copies to the homeless vendors and not taking any of the proceeds has been offset by the number of yearly $7.50 subscriptions new readers have sent back, according to Herman Berlandt, editor of "Poetry USA." Advocates for the homeless support the sales program even though they admit hawking poems will not provide big bank balances.
Representatives of The Coalition on Homelessness, which stores bundles of the journal for the vendors, said they passed out their last copies of "Poetry USA" and are now looking for other publishers interested in having publications distributed on the street.
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