During the height of the pandemic, I worked in a day shelter for homeless men. We were limiting the number of men and rotating each hour to get as many in as possible to get a shower and access what limited services were available. The shelter is located in an old Catholic Church in downtown Louisville, KY.

Most people don’t realize that certain kinds of madness are communicable. Some days, it would bounce around, off the old altar, the high gothic-inspired ceilings, the faded portraits of saints looking down. Some days, I felt like I dodged it. Most days, I knew I didn’t. Madness ran in tandem with rampant beauty.

Now I just try and keep the madness to myself as best I can and share the beauty.

The entirety of this poem, inspired by conversations in the shelter, is part of an unpublished poetry mss., Life on Venus.