Dundas Station

We rode the subway to the Eaton Centre,
exited the turnstiles, and saw a homeless
woman extending her paper cup. I walked
by. Then stopped and walked back. I had
two toonies in my pocket and gave her one.
She was grateful. When I caught up to Jean,
I said, Why didn't I give her both? Is $4
going to kill me? I looked in my wallet
and found a ten-dollar bill. I curled it up
and walked back again, stooped, really
looked at her. She was starving, pale skin
stretched over her skull. Her thin legs
twisted beneath her awkwardly. I placed
the ten in her hand and said, This is a
ten-dollar bill as if she had never seen one.
She clung to it, then pinched the toonie
from the cup. She struggled to stand,
weeping. I wondered if she was in pain
until she said Thank you, then limped to
the brightly lit food court. It hit me hard –
a starving woman in a city of 6 million.
We went where we had to go. I had a fifty
in my wallet. It was all I could think about. 

Bill Garvey's poetry has been published in several journals across North America. His poetry collection, The basement on Biella, was published in 2023 by DarkWinter Press. He grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and currently lives in Canada with his wife, Jean. He enjoys the public transportation of Toronto.