THE NEEDY

Black skin stepping out of

torn t-shirt and night's shadow,

eyes sparkling like coins,

hand holding the crotch

tentatively before digging in

and massaging the whole hog

catch me, the hunter stalking.

I roll down my window.

The air in the car funks with

simmering chitlins from

a mama's greasy kitchen

and musty underarms.

It is a bargain, the price--

thirty pieces of silver

to be under the spell of those

musk scented arms--to see

the whole hog. I can even

touch it too with my lips,

my "big pretty lips," he says.

If he wasn't going to college

and needed money for tuition,

he would let me do it free,

but..."but because of your lips

you can touch me cheaper than

most older men. Just park

in the shadows. In the shadows

you can touch me like the night,

but don't be tentative. I need

you as much as you need me.

I grew up without a daddy.

I need you, man. I need you.