Empty Shoes

158 poems about hunger and homelessness, from 80 poets, many with direct experience, such as: Dori Appel, a Red Cross disaster volunteer; Mary L. Downs, a volunteer at LEAVEN; Barbara Flaherty, former treatment center supervisor; Nancy Gauquier, formerly homeless in NY; Randall Horton, a Ph.D. candidate who advocates for the homeless and prison reform, having been homeless and in prison; Michele Leavitt, a teenage runaway in the 1970s, who later worked as a public defender; John J. Quirk, a member of Chicago's Homeless Action Committee; Nancy Scott, a social worker who helps find housing; and Julian I. Taber, who treated homeless veterans in the V.A.Also includes: Ellen Kort, Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate; Linda Aschbrenner, publisher of the first 100 issues of Free Verse; Pushcart nominees Sharmagne Leland-St. John and Ellaraine Lockie; and Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets presidents Jeri McCormick and Lester Smith.All profits go to programs helping the hungry and homeless.