The Inspiration Behind "The Umbrella"

A few years ago, my (then) boyfriend (now husband), best friend, and her boyfriend took a mini vacation to Yosemite. On our way there, we stopped to get gas because that's what you do when you drive to faraway places. As we pulled up to the gas station, I saw a man struggling against the wind to keep his umbrella grounded. He was indeed selling strawberries, but there was no little boy there; however, I instantly considered that he may have a child at home--a family.

Now, I live in California, and I see people selling fruit and flowers on the street all the time, and to be quite honest, it irks me. Why? Because I wish so badly that they didn't have to do that. I wonder if that is one of the ways they make their living, and if so, I wonder how much they either enjoy or despise doing it. I wonder how much more they have to offer. I wonder about how many people disregard the fact that they may be very well-educated individuals but write them off as illiterate or untalented. I wonder how many people take the time to think about and consider the lives of these individuals. There are various social implications that can be read into my poem, but it is ultimately the reader's right to make up his or her mind on what those implications may be.

P.S. Thank you to my best friend, who tracked down the picture we took of the man we saw peddling strawberries.