Two Sips
Ali Almail, 2T5 Fitz
Artist's Statement: For some time now, I have been preoccupied with thoughts about the health of people who are homeless. Almost everyday, I encounter someone who is homeless asking for kindness from others, while people, including myself, pass them by. I am not sure what the solution is to the systemic homelessness that we see in Toronto. It makes me feel helpless in the face of such a daring issue. Nonetheless, I try to be attentive to the people who are homeless, to observe their day to day lives when we encounter each other briefly on the street, and to reflect on their struggles. This way, I can still fulfill my simple human duty, which is to be attentive to the narrative of being homeless and the struggles it brings. Art is an amazing medium to imagine and connect with someone’s story, allowing you to step into their shoes. To do this, I composed a piece of poetry that recounts a time when I saw a homeless man sitting near a grocery store. It is a reflection that attempts to humbly understand and capture the psychological burden of being homeless.
Title: Two Sips
A man sat at a corner
A corner so visible
The sun glared at his face and body
Yet people walked
With their heads down
Choosing to ignore
Ignore the roaring rays of the sun
Under the window ledge
This hidden
Yet visible corner
The man sipped on two beverages
One to stimulate
One to inebriate
The stimulant to make loud the silent thoughts
The inebriant to make silent the loud thoughts
Alternating
One sip after another
Caught in this cycle
Stimulate
Inebriate
Stimulate
Inebriate
He tried to numb happiness
And give life to his pain
Alternating between
Looking into passer byers’ eyes
And blending into the surrounding
Alternating between feeling human
And feeling nothing at all
This man
Caught in a cycle not of his own choosing
A cycle that gives life to death
And death to life
The only way to cope
Was to take one sip
Of an inebriant
Of a stimulant
To nullify nothingness
And summate everything
A life caught
Between two sips
