Urban nomads: an essay in photos

In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme. - Plato

Plato must have lived in a very different sort of time and place.

Canada can boast one of the wealthiest, enlightened and modern societies in human history. But in my city, some have inevitably fallen through the cracks.

I live in a nice part of Vancouver, near a hospital, city hall, churches, thriving small businesses, some little parks and a daycare. But in Vancouver, there is no place where the plight of the homeless and addicted is hidden. They are part of the landscape, now.

This was the scene outside my apartment window tonight.

A man sits in the shade of a young tree next to my apartment dumpster. He is smashing discarded metal furnishings with a hammer. The sound of metal on metal reverberates in the air of the early evening. Later, he hopes to take the pieces to a scrap metal dealer and sell them for a few dollars.

A neighbor comes to throw out a few bags of garbage. She approaches hesitantly at first, but the man makes no sudden moves. She becomes a little more resolute and says a few words to him as she tosses her bags into the dumpster. He stops hammering while she is there.

Soon, she is gone. The hammering starts again, steady. Clank. Clank. Twenty minutes pass.

Some cars enter our parking lot. A few minutes later, some more neighbors come to talk to the man. They leave and come back a few minutes later. "I'm going, I'm going," he mutters wearily.

He begins to pack up the things he will take with him. Some of the smashed bits, he tosses back into the dumpster. Only the scrap metal will be of use to him.

Soon, he is gone. The ground by the dumpster is picked clean.

The place is quiet. But not for long.

The first man has gone off to sell his meagre treasures, but another comes to see what is left.

This one doesn't stay very long. The first one must have already taken anything of use.

Soon, the second man is gone also. The night has fallen.

I wonder where they have gone.

I am glad I am not out there with them.

tags: homeless, drug addiction, downtown eastside, dumpster divingg, Mount Pleasant, dumpster divers, urban landscape, concrete jungle, selling scrap metal, hard life