I live alone in a basement cave I work by myself by the freeway Wait all day for the rain to fade But it doesn’t fade away around you.   So I run with luck until it dries I flew with the bird until it died I said a wish into the sky Dig the [...]

WET WINDOW AFTERNOON By Michael Olarewaju     You stand there, a mix of emotions, bewildered, relieved. It was on the second floor of that house that you spent the evening of your youth. You sit on what’s left of the porch, feeling it all, the opaqueness of the air in the room. You lie [...]

I’m Real © Kathy Pinheiro 2012   I now have a home – humble, but a start. I’m working again, part time. I’m on my way. This time round, I’ll never make the mistake of thinking that homeless people are not real, or that they’re all the same.   I had been homeless for less [...]

Today was a very productive day.  I had a meeting with Claudia Jahn today.  She is from Community Action on Homelessness(CAH).  She is a very lovely lady.  I went to check out their office space and then we went out for lunch.  This was a Partnership meeting for the CAH and Ve’ahavta. CAH has agreed [...]

By: Janet Phelan Winner: The Pen to Paper Prize At daybreak In the time of enormous suffering I awake to the soft staccato Of rain on the roof. It has been raining now For several months. Why Doesn’t someone do something About it? I fix myself a breakfast Of genetically modified stewed prunes With a [...]

By: Mo Ali Winner: The Rashi Prize Being sexually abused as a child is hard to deal with as a young adult. Growing up, living in poverty was embarrassing. Having to admit to my friends that I have four mental illnesses was terrifying. But you know, coming clean about the abuse, poverty, and mental illness [...]

By: Vaclovas Verikaitis Winner: The Maimonides Prize The sky was lifeless and without colour. It hung over the city like a low ceiling in a dark, damp cellar. The rain that came with it dripped down in hard droplets that seemed to pierce the skin. It was an acid wash for the sins of a [...]

By: Tom Hogarth Winner: The Book of Life Prize Long ago, when the world was yet young, mankind was but a new creature upon it. In this time the powers that be still walked the earth with man, and they were new to their powers. In this beginning time winter came to the land… and [...]

By: Lorren Stewart Winner: The Chaim Potok Prize This is my story. When my parents had me, I was addicted to heroin. I had to fight to stay alive. When I was six years old, my parents both died from heroin overdoses. I was put into foster homes until I started to run away at [...]

By: Liz The Gilad Shalit Prize What has become of my life? I no longer have a life I did not have a death I had an eviction So I simply became a ghost I wander the streets, day and night Invisible to the unknowing Untouchable to the uncaring Incomprehensible to myself Inconsolable in my [...]

By: Anonymous Winner: The Albert Einstein Prize I can’t say where I am from For I am a drifter of space and spaces I can’t say where I am going For the future is nothing but a perspective But I can tell you where I am I am here And I am changing. * * [...]

By: Anonymous Winner: The Joseph, Coat of Many Colours Prize I am me. I am me no fake outs, no excuses no I will not, I will not let you control me. Only respect me and my space I will not sit by and let you degrade me. No I will not forgive you for [...]

By: Ruben Delgada Winner: The Chai Prize In the place I grew up in there were always troubles that I never knew about until my age got doubled. I grew up in a corrupt home, kept my feelings deep inside, that’s why I felt alone, criminal behaviour was seared into my dome, because that’s all [...]

By: J.L. Marlowe Winner: The Aggadada Prize It is mid-November. I am sitting beside the reflecting pool in Nathan Philips Square in downtown Toronto wondering where I can find some cardboard for a bed tonight. Skaters are doing turns around the pool, which at this time of year is an ice rink. The sounds of [...]

By: Nicole Luongo Winner: The Shalom Alechem Prize The following is an introduction to a book that is not yet written: It’s freezing. The basement window is wide open, and the wind has blown the bedcovers off of my body and onto the floor. It’s mid-December, and all I’m wearing is unbalanced it feels, having [...]

By: Jamie Rhiness Winner: The People of the Book So you wake up to the street cars rattling above you, as they cross the bridge keeping you sheltered from the rain or snow. Pigeons painfully cry in vein as they are pecked at by others. The dusty ground is contaminated with PCB’s. You don’t know [...]

By: Heather-Ann Michie Grand Prize Winner Like a leaf trembling in the breeze, I find the courage to get off my mattress, leave my empty place, and head out into another cold wintry day, even though I feel down. This day, I have change for the bus.  People are staring at me.  Maybe my coat [...]

By: Leif Hernborg Winner: The Ahad Ha’am Prize My name is Leif. I am 43 years old and homeless for the second time in my life. I am currently fortunate enough to be in residence at a city-run shelter called “Fort York” which gives 60-90 males opportunities to work and save money and keeps a [...]