Move It Along

Charles Whitmore

January 26, 2017

Move it along
move it along
pack your gear
and move it along

pick up your bed
your tattered cart 
your plastic roof
and mobile home

move it along

leave this street
and skip the next
an urban camp 
won’t give you rest

move on to homes that pass the test

Parade towards rescue missions
and crowd within the shelters
be gone from sight, and smell, and sense
we all want you sequestered

move it along

you won’t find rest, you can’t resist
the city’s forceful fist has tightened
with flashing lights and riot suits
you’re forced to flee while frightened

so see if you’ll prevail and find
some peaceful sleep or rest your head
upon the ground, or street, or bench
without the comfort of a bed

Bio:

Charles is a second year psychiatry resident at the University of Colorado. He’s interested in homeless outreach, child psychiatry, and treating substance use disorders. This poem was written after witnessing the many ways Denver police have forced homeless persons off the streets and out of view of tourists visiting downtown.