Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones Vagabonds Vol. 3 | Page 11

The Juneteenth Loan--1975
Greg Smith
The young black woman opened the row-house door
and frowned, her eyes round, surprised saucers--
a white man, on her shot-gun shack porch,
staring at her with desire, forcing her to look down
in shyness or in deference.
She kept touching her hair,
kept apologizing for the way it stood
straight out in different directions, then
she asked him for a loan--five dollars--
she needed to get her hair done
before going out with him.
Without a pause he passed the bill
and watched her put Lincoln
with feigned indifference
between her ample breasts
which swelled the top of her blouse.
When he called the next evening,
she couldn't talk to him anymore she said--
because she was not yet free.
9