A RACIST SAYS

in the basement store with asbestos floor

drinking black coffee round a small table.

break time at Heartbeat Hospital

Radio 2 and J Vine

1 pm.

J Vine reminisces with a grown WW2 evacuee.

opposite me a racist laughs

tea and spit and biscuit on thin pink lips.

he says HOW WOULD IT WORK TODAY?

sounding like an interesting line of conversation

I put down my huge novel and look up at peeling brick walls.

old spider webs hang grey and greasy like old dreams.

he says THEY’LL ALL HAVE TO GO BACK TO AFRICA.

he is 73. part time. classic bigot.

white.

he thinks congestion on the roads is the fault of the Poles.

I look at peeling brick walls not his confrontational eyes.

he wants someone to argue someone to agree.

 

another racist

younger. boiled face. a woman.

white.

has a convict pen friend in a Texas jail.

his name is Randy Bumgardener.

she says IMAGINE THEM GETTING ALL THEM HOODIES OVER THERE!

mouth almost open I almost speak

but

the guy on the right is asleep arms across his chest.

the girl on the left is applying Midnight Plum nail varnish.

I take up my big book again

look down from the grey peeling walls.