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Life Cycle

Author: Susie Harris

Neighborhood: University Heights

Age: 63

Occupation: Retired

Today I brought my glass and plastic bottles to the local recycling

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center. The building I live in has no provisions for pickup. The man asked if I wanted my refund. “Sure,” I said, and he wrote out a slip for a $1 credit with instructions to take it to the supermarket a few yards away for ­reimbursement.

­While I was waiting for the receipt I looked around and saw “the collectors.” Mostly men, the ones we hear rooting through the bins the night before collection day. There were maybe six or seven men and one woman chatting among themselves, commenting on how well each had done, comparing hundreds of empty beverage cans in huge clear plastic bags. I overheard one man say, “Glad to see you back on the job — just stay clear of my alley.” “Not to worry” was the reply. “I have my own ­now.”

I recognize two of the men from my alley. These homeless people, making their money in a respectable way, faces grizzled in beard and craggy lines from too much of the elements, too little of much else. People missing teeth with matted hair under greasy-looking baseball caps, several layers of clothing on spare frames, having a business meeting of ­sorts.

The laughter was not the sound that a belly laugh brings but a sharp, loud sound ringed with fear, maybe madness, from living life in a canyon, thanking stars above that everyone is drinking plastic containers of water, cans of soft drinks, and bottles of tea so that maybe tonight — cold, under a tarp, sheltered from the rain — a pint of liquor will get them through. Drink to drink. A new life ­cycle.

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Two poems by Marvin Bell

“To Dorothy” and “The Self and the Mulberry”

Author: Susie Harris

Neighborhood: University Heights

Age: 63

Occupation: Retired

Today I brought my glass and plastic bottles to the local recycling

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center. The building I live in has no provisions for pickup. The man asked if I wanted my refund. “Sure,” I said, and he wrote out a slip for a $1 credit with instructions to take it to the supermarket a few yards away for ­reimbursement.

­While I was waiting for the receipt I looked around and saw “the collectors.” Mostly men, the ones we hear rooting through the bins the night before collection day. There were maybe six or seven men and one woman chatting among themselves, commenting on how well each had done, comparing hundreds of empty beverage cans in huge clear plastic bags. I overheard one man say, “Glad to see you back on the job — just stay clear of my alley.” “Not to worry” was the reply. “I have my own ­now.”

I recognize two of the men from my alley. These homeless people, making their money in a respectable way, faces grizzled in beard and craggy lines from too much of the elements, too little of much else. People missing teeth with matted hair under greasy-looking baseball caps, several layers of clothing on spare frames, having a business meeting of ­sorts.

The laughter was not the sound that a belly laugh brings but a sharp, loud sound ringed with fear, maybe madness, from living life in a canyon, thanking stars above that everyone is drinking plastic containers of water, cans of soft drinks, and bottles of tea so that maybe tonight — cold, under a tarp, sheltered from the rain — a pint of liquor will get them through. Drink to drink. A new life ­cycle.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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