Can't Wash Dirt Away

I was told to enter through the back door.
Reason�"
My feet were dirty.

Majority of my money went to 
Miss Janie Lothar’s for boarding.
A small room with one candle
And a knitted quilt. No bed.
So I had no change to spare in buying shoes.

I entered by one knock, a stern overlook, and a smirk.
Reason�"
My shirt was dirty.

Miss Janie Lothar mentioned I couldn’t use her water,
In fear of turning it dark.
She said, “No mo“ bidness come in if you did, ya hear?”
So I wore the clothes I traveled in from
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Austell, Georgia. 

I walked in the restaurant behind 
A big bald man chewing tobacco,
Who lead me to a dark corner.
Reason�"
My reputation was dirty.

Miss Janie Lothar insisted I go to
The “Billy’s Pies” five miles up for food; 
Because she don’t cook for everybody, 
But “Billy’s Pies” was tolerant.

Sitting in the unlit corner 
I asked big bald Billy the 
Reason for the sectional seating.

“The reason? Reason is Son, 
Ya skin dirty.
Ya hear? Ya blind? 
Look der, see�"
Can’t wash the dirt away. Never.”

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

This is powerful. Call it a poem, but it's a story to me--one that offers just a glimpse of that monster called racism.

[alison13]

wow.. i didn't know people think like that until now.. well, except in some movies of course.. great job..

[The Tea Party Mouse.]

It's hard to believe people actually thought this way, and not too long ago, either. A great poem, you have the dialect down, too. It gives your work a "realness".

[Coyote Poetry]

A powerful poem. What was done in the USA were terrible things. We must remember the great people who fought and died so we can have a fair chance. You wrote with a polite tone. But the meaning in the poem was powerful.
Coyote