Homelessness Is Only One Piece Of My Puzzle: Implications For Policy And Practice

Within the covers of this document that promises to provide "frameworks that can help us support those who are homeless [while] work[ing] towards preventing and ultimately ending homelessness" are eight of my poems with accompanying visual art pieces.   The following is just one of those paired sets.​    

Aloha Big Kahuna

couch surfing as necessity
is ‘gnarly’ and ‘extreme’
‘hang ten’ is difficult
‘hang twenty’ is supreme

not being the ‘grubbing’
‘sponger’ ‘dude’ & ‘dudette’
means the odd ‘mush’ or ‘keg’
taken out of ‘pocket’

no playing with the ‘woody’
or getting the ‘buoy’ ‘naked’
no room to deal with ‘swells’
can’t even fit the ‘snake’ in

there is only one ‘priority’
on someone else’s turf
get your own ‘360’ ‘board’
​your own ‘rad’ place to ‘surf’ 

There are hidden meanings that will help bring the collection together.  First, all the base images were created in black and white. That represents the approach current policies indicate homelessness can be dealt with. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all application of theory or practice.  The second secret is related to the accessories applied to each image.  They are either candy or toys. They are an allusion to the fact that homelessness issues are sugar coated &/or treated as child's play.