Cardboard City

About the Book

Cardboard City evolved from images which fell into my subconscious while I was a social worker to the aged and disabled. The most vivid images were of a man and woman, both winos. He lived in a chicken coop and she in a cardboard box. The stench of a wino is nauseating – a mixture of vomit, feces, and urine. He stumbles through life like a zombie, with no hopes, no dreams, no plans. He is a reject of society, held in contempt by others, and seldom loved by anyone.

About the Author

Merry Harris is a former photojournalist and social worker. Her poetry has appeared in approximately 80 anthologies, and her short stories in numerous newspapers and magazines. She has served as family section editor and columnist for the Delano Record and Imperial Valley Press. She is part Cherokee, an elder in the Rainbow Clan (mixed bloods). Her paternal grandparents were Shakers. She bases her like on an old Shaker song, which is about “the gift to be simple, the gift to be free, the gift to be what I ought to be.