By admin 
A phrase you’ll sometimes come across when talking with homeless people is out here. As in: “I’ve been out here for 10 years.” Or: “She’s one of the toughest people out here.” As a phrase, as an idea, it has a sort of magic, because it gives a location to what looks like nowhere. It gives a name to a space that—seen from within the parameters of regular life—looks like unnameable no-space. For most people, it’s out there: formless, menacing, devoid of comfort. But if it’s where you live, it’s out here.
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On the occasion of the semiquincentennial, The Atlantic asked the Black Seed Writers Group—a collective of homeless, transitional, and recently housed authors that meets every Tuesday in downtown Boston—for its thoughts on America’s condition. Their responses, featured below, come from a place beyond journalism and beyond safety. In this place, perspective is unstable, because it has to be. Larger thoughts, larger visions, warp under the pressure of the immediate situation; an extreme close-up, conversely, can abruptly turn cosmic. Of perceptual shifts like these, the first language is generally poetry.
The Black Seed writers are abrasive, wistful, humorous, and loaded with insight. Theirs is essential testimony, and it comes from the streets of Boston, where the Revolution began. It comes from the inside of the outside of the American project. It comes from out here.
— James Parker
In a Moment
in America
In a moment
in America
anything can happen.
One’s feelings can change
in a split second.
You can be sane
one moment
and stark raving
in another moment.
You can be happy,
having an excellent day,
and in a moment
in America
it can turn into a nightmare
with no end in sight.
A person can’t always know
what’s in store for him or her,
because in a moment
in America
anything could possibly happen,
good or bad, only God knows.
In a moment
in America
bad things can turn good
and in a moment
in America
good things can turn bad,
but what it all comes down to
is how you choose
to deal with it
in the moment.
— Augustus Foy
The Window
When the window is open
it brings in the oxygen
so that we can breathe together.
When we breathe together
it puts us together in the Big Window.
When we look into the Big Window
it shines on us.
When it shines on us, the sun goes
right through us, brothers and sisters.
When we see the Big Window
it gives us a reflection
of all the brothers and sisters.
— David Santaniello
How I Feel About America
Right now how I feel is: America is in turmoil. President Trump has to figure out how to get the economy back together and try not to be so much of an egomaniac. But I think America will be fine because God will make sure of it. Politically I’m a Democrat, but I don’t trust no politicians.
The atmosphere in the streets now: I have seen a lot of new faces. A lot of people are coming here to Boston to get these services. Technically it doesn’t affect me but it says something about society right now. In the homeless community we welcome them in, because we’re all the same. We’re all just trying to survive. The mental-health services, though, are fuckin’ goin’ down the tubes. It’s like you take two steps forward and then all of sudden you take three steps backwards.
Life for me personally has gotten better. My attitude has changed; my heart has opened; I’ve got more compassion. I see good all the time and I see bad all the time. I see friendships grow and I see friendships break down. The kindest person in the world is a homeless person, because they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
I do believe that a closed mouth does not get fed, and I have a big mouth so I’m gonna get fed. People should be more open-minded. Don’t judge. Maybe a homeless guy wants to wear dirty clothes—so what? Isn’t that his right? I like to give people hope. I like to tell ’em: You are somebody. Don’t ever forget it.
— Ishmael Rodriguez
Endgame, It Looks Like
I might have said it already
but it’s a damn good thing
that Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
is already dead
because this shit
would certainly have killed him
— Thomas DeFreitas
American Dream 2026
When I opened my eyes
to the unforgiving sunlight
and I sat and listened
to the daily rhythm,
I threw another day away—
seeing nothing,
hearing a lot of this and that,
just nothing.
I can’t believe this insane world,
this money-grubbing life.
Straight to hell, no stopping to complain
about what we’ve done or not done.
Your brother is no longer your brother.
Turning on a spit over a fire:
What should I write?
I have a vision of reality.
I have seen to where
things are as they are.
But I just can’t seem to see
the dream, ahead of these
roadblocks that gather in my brain.
— Roger Morris
A Time of Dark Is Coming
Life is getting hard, and getting a little complicated. The corporations are targeting us. The prices are going up. More people are sleeping on the street. So many messages we get from Heaven and still we don’t realize that something big is on its way. We get warnings from Our Father in Heaven but everyone is so lost in the world that they don’t react. We are blind. So many people have so much shame, broken homes, more people living a fake life, faking it to survive …
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I sometimes ask my Father to show me the way so I can help, so I can stand up for the weak, for the vulnerable, with the wisdom that he gives us. I don’t have much but I have Our Father with me. Life is so complicated—anyone can get caught up in it. There’s a lot of sickness in humanity, so we stay together with the blessing of Our Father in Heaven. Amen.
— Quberth Dometz
Sleeping on Cotton
I don’t live outside anymore. I’m still homeless but I am a guest of a shelter, where I am allowed the privilege of having the same bed every night. For many months I have worn a long-sleeve black cotton shirt with the word AMERICA written in colorful bold lettering across the front.
In the beginning the only option for a pillow came in green plastic. Most uncomfortable—not even a crash-test dummy would have enjoyed it. Shortly afterward I upgraded to a sky-blue nylon pillow but that didn’t last, easily tearing and ripping apart.
This all changed one day when another guest, who had befriended me, got a room and left the shelter. On my mattress was a large, fluffy white pillow, a gift from him. It looked very comfortable and attractive—except for the bloodstain. I could have thrown it away, but I decided to stuff the biologically hazardous part into the pillow case, so no one else would see it.
Every now and then, while I’m in bed wearing my AMERICA shirt and attempting to forget this bloody giveaway gesture, I can’t help but toss and turn as I anticipate the return of this departed guest. I think of him verbally erupting when he was unable to get a single frickin’ cup of coffee for himself in the morning.
— Troy Anthony Brown
America in 2026:
Not Happy About It
I’m really not too happy about
the fake words that
seem to never end.
I’m really not too happy about
being alone,
but it is necessary
to keep myself safe
and sane at this time.
Not too happy about the way
most people in Boston walk by
and pretend that I don’t exist
as I sit and beg for spare change.
I’m not too happy about the way
life has turned out for me.
I’m not that happy that I have no one to really talk to.
Just a bunch of bums …
But what is that saying about me?
— Shannon T. O’Malley
How I’m Feeling About America
The United States is a great country, great freedom to do whatever you want,
the home of the great American pastime—you guessed it, American baseball!
Personally, I love the game.
— Howie D.
How I’m Doing in America
Not too bad today. Just trying to enjoy the day. Hoping to meet my caseworker—he’s no longer gonna be my caseworker, so he has information that I need. But trying to get hold of him is like pulling teeth. He’s got money for me too—$200. I know he’s a busy man but all he needs to do is pick up the phone once. Him being busy doesn’t do me any good. So I have to work on my patience.
No luck with my living situation. I got turned down for two places because of my criminal record. I can’t change the past. People say they understand but they don’t understand. If you have a place, you don’t understand. Try walking a mile in my shoes. All I’ve got is the streets and depression. No place. All I can do is make the best of it. Oh, something’s gonna happen for me? When? I don’t wanna be negative, but I’m 67. When’s it gonna happen?
This guy was preaching yesterday about what God is doing for him. I said, “I don’t mind listening, but what God’s doing for you he’s not doing for me.” I don’t get it, why God can tell me jump in a hole and bury myself. I know Somebody exists—’cause I didn’t create nothing. But it’s confusing. The world’s very confusing.
Old guy called me effing crazy the other day. I said, “Well, I’m not alone. The world’s full of crazy people. I’ll be crazy. And you’re crazy too—you better wake up.”
— James Pells
Covenant
I be at the Covenant, lovin’ it,
eating all the supplements,
awaiting God’s judgment.
Expressing extreme puzzlement
toward the government,
performing Black sacraments
on the upper management
and other men.
It’s part of my regimen—
delivering that excellence,
crushing such pestilence,
under my boot here’s the evidence.
At the palace of decadence,
giving life to skeletons
without any medicines,
unlike the Americans,
who are just concerned with Benjamins.
The Lord be eminent
during the final testament
as they implement
the new way of life sentiment.
Living with pink elephants,
keeping things relevant
for our next experiment.
— Jesus Vargas
President Jimmy
It’s crazy out there in the streets. Donald Trump should not be president. I should be president! I say food stamps should be unlimited; $260 a month don’t go nowhere. Every city should put restrooms all over, and trains should be 24 hours.
I miss my dad. I want my dad to come back to Boston. He got deported back to Honduras. End homelessness. There should be no more homelessness.
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— Jimmy Watler Jr.