remember the day we wandered around a store
happy, go lucky, no fear or care in the world
because that was our town and scary things don't really happen in our town
and then he came up and talked to me
my whole body went cold
and i wanted to cry as i forced myself to pretend
you joked and asked if he was an ex
and you knew i never had one
i never felt such fear as he followed us and you joked and joked
you didn’t know, but did you not see the panic rising?
and how i looked around every corner
and looked behind only to see him there
i was choking on fear, frightened
i scrambled and you followed
finally freedom came in a parking lot in my car
and i finally explained
that man had tried an advance on me when i was too young
and he followed us
around
that entire store
a poet's confessional 