Home Ground is a powerful and enduring collection of new writing from established authors, learners, students and tutors who have worked together in Glasgow. The stories and poems in this book are peppered with the landmarks, spaces and places that are emblems of our city. Most of all, they are about people; their hopes and fears, and their trials and triumphs.
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[Celtic Park, October 1993 - FROM HAPPINESS TO HOMELESSNESS: ONE MAN'S JOURNEY TO HELL AND BACK BY DAVID FARRELL]***
(@FreightBooks, 1 March 2017, 139 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs, edited by Louise Welsh and @zoestrachan)
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So, I've lived in Glasgow for seventeen years and I'd never heard of the Glasgow Homeless World Cup. I had no idea that was a thing. Seeing homeless people on the streets in a common thing in the town, mainly in and around the city centre. I now live in a more affluent area and can't remember the last time I saw a homeless person. I'm one of the people who tend to see someone homeless but act like they're not there. I'm not proud of it, that's just the way it is. I'm also the kind of person who tends to assume most of if not all homeless people are somehow to blame for their situation. After crying a ridiculous amount of times reading this collection, consider me humbled and better informed. The only name I recognise is Lin Anderson so I'm not sure if the writers and poets are well known, amateurs or a bit of both. The poems and stories are very broad and diverse considering they explore the same theme. They all moved me and I'm glad I read this collection. There is an incredible story, I can't remember the title or author about a young homeless woman who dies. The story is narrated after her death by someone who witnessed her last hours. It seems he knows the young girl because he discusses her family and the events that led her to live on the streets. Her discusses how many people spit on her in a space of 30 minutes and wonders what kind of person take the times to spit on someone dying in a doorway. I couldn't stop crying as I read this.
