Homeless people at 15 Place express themselves with poetry

The objects scattered across the table at 15 Place in downtown Mobile were mostly a collection of objects pulled from the discard pile of life: a cheap yo-yo, a scuffed heart-shaped Christmas ornament, a rock with a faded painting on one side.

The group gathered around the table could be similarly dismissed: homeless, who only a few minutes earlier had been lined up in front of the building to take advantage of services offered at the center. A meal, a hot shower, laundry.

Still, the objects on the table, like the people around them, had a story to tell.

The trinkets were a writing prompt for the 15 Place clients, who were participating Wednesday in a poetry workshop put on by creative writing students from the University of South Alabama.

Told to take poetry out of the classroom and into the street, the students decided to get poetry from the street and into a book. Work produced by the homeless is being published in a book that will go on sale in several independent shops and restaurants in the area.

Profits from the book will benefit 15 Place, a day center.

The recent workshop was led by Sue Walker, Alabama's poet laureate and director of USA's creative writing center. After placing the sundry objects across the table, she asked participants to pick the one that spoke to them and write a poem about it.

Albert Millsapp chose a mermaid doll. Topped with red yarn for hair, it didn't look like much. It became clear that the mermaid was really just a stand-in for somebody else.

"She tempts you with the idea and longing

"of a pure and true love.

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