HONESTLY

‘Can I be honest with you’, he began,
The man standing at the loading bay
Of the city centre department store,
Leaning on his elbow into the wall
And his colleague’s personal space,
‘Can I be honest with you’,
Tugging with his other hand on his dangling earring
For added sincerity.

My feet took me past the answer
Hoping against hope that the answer,
As it always should be was,  No.
Nobody wants or deserves your honesty,
The world has no need for what Dave reckons,
Neither relationship advice, shop floor protocols,
Certainly not how she wears her hair,
Chooses her lunch or pronouns,
Or in any way otherwise lives her life,
Her truth