Lenora Steele: “Listening dumbfounded to him allocate, from the public purse, $5-million in women’s venture capital I was staggered at the heartlessness, at the cheek, while just over here, yes, here, right here in front of us a woman sits on the side of her bed, a hospital phone in her hand calling a taxi to take her to a low-budget motel for the night. Her breast removed yesterday, she has no way home and must spend the night alone in Truro.”

The Visitor, a poem by Truro poet Lenora Steele about her friend Effie.

Effie is not
homeless, she has a room and a
kitchenette, a shared toilet, the landlord
is on a first name basis with
her social worker, Effie’s rent goes
straight to him.