Can't Do Nothing For You
sahel thin rock star beggar lady
requests a quarter
i refuse
i don't want to refuse
how long
will it take her to blow
my quarter
i ask myself
to justify my niggardness
i do not even give her words
i just shake my head "no"
i get in my car
i drive my divided self home
half of me hurdles
out the window
hastening to chase down
that shadow of a sister
desperate to explain
that my refusal doesn't
mean i don't care
although my other half
doesn't see
the light turn green
it sees
that hollow stare
that did not even blink
at my negative response
prodded by the blare
of someone's horn behind me
i move on at funeral pace
encased in a deathly silence
which eerily mirrors
the way she walked
away
from
me
something
has got to give
—kalamu ya salaam