The Smartest Man I Never Met By Jasen Sousa
The Smartest Man I Never Met
The man snuck into a library
where he secretly lived for months.
I was given orders by my boss
to clean out his room,
I did, but my curiosity
also made me rummage
through his backpack.
It seemed as though every possession
the man owned was in this bag,
little trinkets which told stories
about his past.
The homeless man
was a chemical biologist
who spoke five languages
and was outstanding at math.
He was a college graduate who attended
Harvard and M.I.T.
I began to wonder how a brilliant man
could end up living up in a 10-foot-wide closet?
I continued to search through his bag.
I found health magazines,
I also found a few Playboys and a bottle of lotion,
along with a large poster
of a beautiful beach showing the sun
reflecting off the ocean.
His green jacket hung over the chair,
it smelled like a mixture
of urine, sperm, crumbs and grease,
stains on his jacket covered stains on his soul,
I wondered about long nights
and if there was any peace?
I wished I could have spoken to him
to find out what made him so upset,
my hello and goodbye
to the smartest man I never met.
Taken From
Selected Poems of Jasen Sousa
17-24
©
Comprised of works from:
Life, Weather (First Collection of Poems Written At Age 17) (Not In College)
A Thought and A Tear for Every Day of The Year: A Poetic Diary (Written Between ages 18-19) (Stint at Suffolk University)
Close Your Eyes and Dream With Me (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
Almost Forever (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
A Mosaic of My Mind (Written at Age 24) (Beginning Emerson College)
The man snuck into a library
where he secretly lived for months.
I was given orders by my boss
to clean out his room,
I did, but my curiosity
also made me rummage
through his backpack.
It seemed as though every possession
the man owned was in this bag,
little trinkets which told stories
about his past.
The homeless man
was a chemical biologist
who spoke five languages
and was outstanding at math.
He was a college graduate who attended
Harvard and M.I.T.
I began to wonder how a brilliant man
could end up living up in a 10-foot-wide closet?
I continued to search through his bag.
I found health magazines,
I also found a few Playboys and a bottle of lotion,
along with a large poster
of a beautiful beach showing the sun
reflecting off the ocean.
His green jacket hung over the chair,
it smelled like a mixture
of urine, sperm, crumbs and grease,
stains on his jacket covered stains on his soul,
I wondered about long nights
and if there was any peace?
I wished I could have spoken to him
to find out what made him so upset,
my hello and goodbye
to the smartest man I never met.
Taken From
Selected Poems of Jasen Sousa
17-24
©
Comprised of works from:
Life, Weather (First Collection of Poems Written At Age 17) (Not In College)
A Thought and A Tear for Every Day of The Year: A Poetic Diary (Written Between ages 18-19) (Stint at Suffolk University)
Close Your Eyes and Dream With Me (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
Almost Forever (Written During Early Twenties) (Bay State College)
A Mosaic of My Mind (Written at Age 24) (Beginning Emerson College)