Monday Evening

He told me he liked big white women,
asked me if I dug chocolate,
offered me his joint,
this stranger on High Street,
broad daylight,
my arms heavy with groceries,
just trying to make my way home.
No make-up, dirty jeans,
I was just wandering through
my early evening dreams,
having trailed through the dust
in a dark antique store,
and then crossed to the corner market,
all hazy and full of me,
swimming in my head.
I was kind to him as I kept on walking,
didn't meet his eye but smiled,
because I knew he meant well.
I winked and thanked him,
and he told me to be good.
"Don't kill nobody, girl."
Don't kill nobody.
Sometimes I wonder if
I'm the only thing
keeping my little corner of the world alive.