Robin Stratton is the founder of Big Table Publishing, and the Boston Literary Magazine. I am glad she has shared a poem with the LYRICAL.

Doing Something

Robin Stratton.

It was the holiday season and as Elaine watched
It’s a Wonderful Life she pondered
her own circumstances:
decent, well-paying job
ex-husband who paid child support on time
and of course her two precious sons.
She had a good life.
She had a very good life.

Maybe it was time to do something for others.
Give back to a world that had given her so much.

When the movie ended and the news came on
they did a story about homeless people
and to Elaine, it felt like a message from God:
she could donate money to a shelter.
Maybe even volunteer some time like
an angel who served steaming hot meals in a soup kitchen
Yes, that’s what she would do!

She got on line and started looking for
one that was local.
To her shock, she discovered that some shelters
wouldn’t allow families with teenaged boys.
She was outraged! She had two teenaged boys!
What if she were homeless,
what would the shelter do,
separate her from her children?

She found a total of seven shelters who
adhered to this policy
and decided to write an angry e mail
to each of them.
It took over an hour.

Elaine wasn’t stupid or naïve.
She knew her e mails would not fix the problem.
But it was better than doing nothing.
Feeling satisfied, she shut off her computer
and went to bed.

— Robin Stratton

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